The Conference on “The Kurdish Question and Developments in the Middle East” is continuing in Athens, Greece. The conference is attended by PYD (Democratic Union Party) Co-Chair Xerîb Hiso, Co-Chair of the Foreign Relations Department of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, Îlham Ehmed, Co-Chair of the PYD Diplomatic Relations Office, Sema Begdaş, as well as numerous academics, politicians, and journalists.

The first session of the conference, moderated by Zakia Aqra, addressed the current situation of the Kurds in Syria. In her presentation, academic Katia Zagoritou said that there should be a search for a new joint political structure, including the establishment of a joint Kurdish organization and the establishment of a national dialogue between the new administration in Damascus and other political forces in Syria.

Katia Zagoritou emphasized the need to recognize Syria's ethnic and religious diversity and to constitutionally guarantee the rights of all social groups.

Antonis Deriziotis, assistant professor at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, stated that the AKP government is trying to suppress the opposition with new detention operations.

He also remarked that the Turkish state continues its attacks in northern and eastern Syria and wants to establish its own regime in Syria with the help of mercenaries.

At the end of the first session, Professor Sotiris Roussos of the University of Peloponnese pointed out that there is currently a compromise between Turkey and Saudi Arabia. He stated that despite many differences between the two countries in the region, they agree that there should be a central government that controls all of Syria. He emphasized that they share the view that this power should be based on Sunni Islam.

The first session concluded with a question-and-answer session.