Damascus Declaration

The Damascus Declaration (Arabic: إعلان دمشق) was a statement of unity by Syrian opposition figures issued in October 2005. It criticized the Syrian government of the Assad dynasty as "authoritarian, totalitarian and cliquish," and called for "peaceful, gradual," reform "founded on accord, and based on dialogue and recognition of the other."^[1]

The five-page document was signed by more than 250 major opposition figures as well as parties "both secular and religious, Arab and Kurdish."^[1] It was considered important that the statement included the Muslim Brotherhood group of Syria, in addition to secular groups.^[2]^[1] ^[3] The statement called for a "fair solution for the Kurdish issue in Syria in a way insures the equality of Kurds with all other Syrian citizens".^[3]

Syrian journalist and activist Michel Kilo launched the declaration, after the Syrian writer and thinker Abdulrazak Eid had written its first draft. Riad Seif, another democracy activist, was the first signatory.^[1] The "five small opposition groups" signing the declaration were the Arab nationalist National Democratic Rally, the Kurdish Democratic Alliance, the Committees of Civil Society, the Kurdish Democratic Front and the Movement of the Future.^[3]

Twelve members of the Damascus Declaration National Council were sentenced to two and a half years in prison in October 2008.