Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria

Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria Rêveberiya Xweser a Bakur û Rojhilatê Sûriyeyê الإدارة الذاتية لشمال وشرق سوريا
Flag
Capital	Ayn Issa
Largest city	Raqqa
Official languages	Arabic Kurdish
Recognised regional languages	Adyghe Syriac Turkish
Dominant mode of production	Capitalism
Government	Libertarian Socialist confederation
• Co-presidents	Îlham Ehmed Mansur Selum
History
• Transitional government declared	2013
• New government declared	6 September 2018
Area
• Total	50,000 km²
Population
• 2024 estimate	4,600,000

The Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (DAANES), formerly the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES), also known as Rojava, is an autonomous region in Syria. It is led by the Democratic Union Party (PYD) and other allied parties. Rojava has a defense force known as the SDF, which includes the YPG, a mostly Kurdish militia.

On March 10th, the SDF commander-in-chief, Mazloum Abdi, signed an agreement to merge Rojava with the current Syrian national government by the end of this year, which gives both sides time to exit from the deal. However, an SDF official said this was "just a memorandum of understanding," not anything new or groundbreaking. Also, another SDF source stated that the deal will not change anything without mutual consensus between newly formed joint committees that will mediate between the Rojavan government and the national government of Syria: "Yet, as the final point of the deal lays out, committees will now be formed to work on the practicalities of realizing what has been agreed upon. The deal “will not translate to any real change on the ground unless the joint committees agree on everything,” explained an SDF source."

Additionally, despite this agreement, Îlham Ehmed, one of the co-chairs of the presidency in Rojava, has stated that Rojava will not join with the national government until an agreement is reached on the constitution.

The Rojavan government has had a wide array of critiques against the current national government of Syria, including criticizing the current interim constitution and accusing the current national government of Syria of marginalizing Kurds and other minorities. The policies of the national government of Syria have culminated with the Rojavan government stating that they won’t implement policies/decisions of Syria's current "exclusionary" national government.

On April 17th, Îlham Ehmed stated that the DAANES government seeks to maintain Rojava’s current status as an autonomous region: "Our current plan is to preserve what exists, and we will try to be more involved within Syria and participate in every process."

In August, the Syrian government and Rojava’s armed forces (SDF) militarily clashed with each other, and a buildup of tensions has led to French-mediated negotiations being called off.

Economy

Dara Kurdaxi, a former economist from Afrîn when it was under DAANES control stated that Rojava is not against private property, but seeks to put it to service of all through socialization: "The method in Rojava is not so much against private property, but rather has the goal of putting private property in the service of all the peoples who live in Rojava".

However, economists in Rojava, such as Dara Kurdaxi argue that they are working for a form of libertarian socialism where production will be controlled through communes and people’s councils: "Historical experience has shown that we in Rojava must follow a different model. Production should not be controlled by the state, nor by the private market, but through the communes and people’s councils, which are self-governing institutions, in a position to know the needs of their participants."

Additionally, the government does not deny that Rojava is capitalist. Instead, the government argues that Rojava is working to 'transcend capitalism' and build a 'communal economy' that will abolish private property, but without a dictatorship of the proletariat: "Administration does not currently interfere with private land ownership. We can not force them. Previous revolutions that expropriated land by force were not successful. We are taking a step by step approach to communal ownership. We do not have the power to to fight all private ownership now, but we will eventually abolish it."

Private property is still constitutionally protected by article 70 of the DAANES constitution: "Private property is protected and may not be taken away except for the public interest. It must be compensated fairly, and this is regulated by law."

Recent statements by a Rojavan government official in July 2025 have clarified that private/personal property persists in the region, while collective/social property is encouraged: "This system rejects capitalist individualism and profit-oriented economics. Instead, it embraces principles of social solidarity and fair distribution. Collective ownership is encouraged over private ownership, although individual property is not entirely abolished." Another Rojavan government official stated that the goal is to build a 'communal economy' and overcome capitalist individualism: "We are developing cooperative projects at the local level through meetings with the people, yet due to the dominant authoritarian mentality in society, interest in the cooperative system remains weak. This mindset presents serious challenges for us. Our goal in developing cooperative projects is to ensure that society becomes the owner of its own labor. A communal and socially grounded economy can only progress in this way. ... We want to further develop this system so that we can organize our economy through cooperatives and meet the needs of society."

Political Structure

According to the new 2023 Rojavan constitution/social contract, Rojava is run by communes, councils, academies, cooperatives, community economic units, and institutions that complement the community system: "The Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria organizes its democratic and free community life based on the formation of: communes, councils, academies, cooperatives, community economic units and institutions that complement the community system, which organize themselves in a confederal manner. The democratic system of society develops and is consolidated based on these institutions."

According to the new constitution, these include various institutions, such as cantons, communes, people’s councils, neighborhood councils, law councils, etc.

Accusations of Kurdish nationalism

Rojava has been accused of and Kurdish nationalism due to cases, such as In 2018 where the PYD forced several Assyrian schools controlled by the Syrian Orthodox Church to close. However, these were shortly reopened. Officially, the Rojavan government officially condemns the formation of a Kurdish state due to its Democratic Confederalist ideology. Instead, the Rojavan government officials have embraced federalism inside a democratic/secular Syria, not a Kurdish state: "Our idea is not to build a nation state but to establish federalism in Syria including all components,” Muslim added. “But it will be a secular federalism."

U.S. support

The SDF previously received much of its arms from the United States and the U.S. has established seven military bases in the area. However, since Trump has come to office he has cut foreign aid to Rojava.

American troops have also recently left several Rojavan military bases in June, which has led to a resurgence of ISIS.