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National Coordination Committee/National Coordination Body هيئة التنسيق الوطنية لقوى التغيير الديمقراطي | |
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| Abbreviation | NCC or NCB |
| Leader | Hassan Abdel Azim |
| Founded | 2011 |
| Headquarters | Damascus,Syria |
| Ideology | Arab nationalism Democratic socialism Nasserism Scientific socialism Marxism Democratic confederalism |
| Political position | Left-wing |
| Website | |
www | |
TheNational Coordination Committee for Democratic Change (NCC), orNational Coordination Body for Democratic Change[1] (NCB) (Arabic:هيئة التنسيق الوطنية لقوى التغيير الديمقراطي), is aSyrian coalition ofopposition movements formed at the onset of theSyrian civil war. Chaired by Hassan Abdel Azim, it consists of 13left-wingpolitical parties and "independent political and youth activists".[2] It has been defined byReuters as the internal opposition's main umbrella group.[3] The NCC initially had severalKurdish political parties as members, but all except for theDemocratic Union Party left in October 2011 to join theKurdish National Council.[4]
At the beginning of the civil war, relations with otherSyrian opposition groups were generally poor. TheSyrian Revolution General Commission, theLocal Coordination Committees of Syria or theSupreme Council of the Syrian Revolution were critical of the NCC's calls to dialogue with the Syrian government.[5] In September 2012, theSyrian National Council (SNC) reaffirmed that despite broadening its membership, it would not join with "currents close to [the] NCC".[6] Despite recognizing theFree Syrian Army on 23 September 2012,[7] the FSA has dismissed the NCC as an extension of the government, stating that "this opposition is just the other face of the same coin".[3] Some opposition activists have accused the NCC of being afront organization forBashar al-Assad's government and some of its members of being ex-government insiders.[8]
The NCC differed from the SNC on two main points of strategy:
Eventually, the NCC cooperated with theSyrian National Coalition as part of theSyrian peace efforts.
The Coordination Committee is largely based inside Syria, and was formed in 2011 at a congress inDamascus. It gathers all of the political parties of theNational Democratic Rally, formerly Syria's mainsecular opposition coalition, and few other organizations. It has a generallysecular membership, although not exclusively so. Most member organizations have a leftist profile, while some are also stronglyArab nationalist orKurdish nationalist. Damascus-based lawyer Hassan Abdul Azim, the chairman, is also the spokesperson of the National Democratic Rally and the chairman of theDemocratic Arab Socialist Union, a bannedNasserist opposition party. The Coordination Committee's spokesperson abroad isHaytham Manna, aParis-based author andhuman rights activist, who spent three decades as ahuman rights activist and spokesperson for theArab Commission for Human Rights (ACHR), which he helped create.[1]
At an 18 March 2012 demonstration during the Syrian civil war, a protest organised by the NCC in Damascus was smaller than countryside demonstrations. The demonstration had been announced publicly beforehand. Participants chanted, "The people want the fall of the regime". Several were beaten by security forces, and eleven members of the NCC were briefly detained.[9]
The NCC has been hosted byRussia for talks with the Syrian government.[10] During these talks in April 2012SANA, the official news agency, claimed that the NCC and the government were in widespread agreement.[11]
In September 2012 the NCC met withChinese Foreign MinisterYang Jiechi, and called for a four-point plan which included political transition.[12] Upon returning to Syria viaDamascus International Airport, two of the NCC members who had been at the meeting inChina along with another NCC member who had come to collect them were detained by the Syrian government, with all contact being lost with them since 5:30 on 20 September.[13] The NCC spokesman Khalaf Dahowd described this detainment as kidnapping,[14] with the NCC executive further elaborating that they believed the three members to have been "forcibly disappeared" by the SyrianAir Force Intelligence Directorate.[13] The Syrian government on the other hand claimed that the NCC members were captured by "terrorist groups",[15] despite having detained five other NCC members for the first time on Monday that week.[14]
On 23 September 2012, the NCC held a rare meeting in Damascus, and for the first time recognized theFree Syrian Army,[16] and for whatThe Washington Post described as the first time that the NCC formally called for the "overthrowing [of] the regime with all its symbols".[15] The Preparatory Committee issued an eight-point statement which called for:
After the pro-AssadSyrian Social Nationalist Party had withdrawn from thePopular Front for Change and Liberation,[17] the NCC on 10 August 2014 signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the remaining Popular Front, calling for ″comprehensive grassroots change, which means the transition from the current authoritarian regime to a democratic pluralistic system within a democratic civil State based on the principle of equal citizenship to all Syrians regardless of their ethnic, religious and sectarian identities.″[18]
On 25 March 2019, the NCC condemned theUnited States'recognition of the disputedGolan Heights region as part of theState of Israel, calling on "the governments of the world and its peace-loving people" to oppose the US position.[19]
In June 2023, reports of cooperation between the NCC and theSyrian Democratic Council, the political organization of theKurdish-controlled areas in Northern Syria, emerged.[20][21][22]
In March 2012, the Coordination Committee was described byThe New York Times as "one of Syria’s most moderate opposition groups" in the context of their demonstration where "officers in plain clothes beat them with sticks and began making arrests."[9] Prior to September 2012, its members did not call for the dismantlement of the Syrian government or the removal ofBashar al-Assad as president,[citation needed] apart from their 18 March 2012 demonstration in Damascus when some of them chanted, "The people want the fall of the regime".[9] The Coordination Committee, unlike theSyrian National Council, believed that the solution was to keep the current Syrian government, and hoped to resolve the current crisis through dialogue, in order to achieve "a safe and peaceful transition from a state of despotism to democracy".[23]
As part of thepeace talks for Syria, the NCC was part of the opposition'sHigh Negotiations Committee, together with delegates from theSyrian National Coalition and several rebel factions including theFree Syrian Army.[24]
| Name | Representative |
|---|---|
| Democratic Arab Socialist Union | Hassan Abdul Azim |
| Arab Revolutionary Workers Party | Tariq Abu Al-Hassan |
| Communist Labour Party | Abdul-Aziz al-Khair |
| Arab Socialist Movement | Munir al-Bitar |
| Syrian Democratic People's Party | Not represented in Executive Bureau |
| Together for a Free and Democratic Syria | Munther Khaddam |
| Democratic Union Party | Salih Muslim |
| Marxist Left Assembly | |
| Democratic Socialist Arab Ba'ath Party | Ibrahim Makhous |
