National Coordination Committee for Democratic Change

National Coordination Committee/National Coordination Body
هيئة التنسيق الوطنية لقوى التغيير الديمقراطي
AbbreviationNCC or NCB
Formation2011
HeadquartersDamascus, Syria
Region served
Syria
Chairman
Hassan Abdel Azim
Websitewww.syrncc.org Edit this at Wikidata

The National Coordination Committee for Democratic Change (NCC), or National Coordination Body for Democratic Change[1] (NCB) (Arabic: هيئة التنسيق الوطنية لقوى التغيير الديمقراطي), is a Syrian bloc chaired by Hassan Abdel Azim consisting of 13 left-wing political parties and "independent political and youth activists".[2] It has been defined by Reuters as the internal opposition's main umbrella group.[3] The NCC initially had several Kurdish political parties as members, but all except for the Democratic Union Party left in October 2011 to join the Kurdish National Council.[4] Some opposition activists[who?] have accused the NCC of being a front organization for Bashar al-Assad's government and some of its members of being ex-government insiders.[5]

Relations with other Syrian political opposition groups are generally poor. The Syrian Revolution General Commission, the Local Coordination Committees of Syria or the Supreme Council of the Syrian Revolution oppose the NCC calls to dialogue with the Syrian government.[6] In September 2012, the Syrian National Council (SNC) reaffirmed that despite broadening its membership, it would not join with "currents close to [the] NCC".[7] Despite recognizing the Free Syrian Army on 23 September 2012,[8] 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]

The NCC differs from the SNC on two main points of strategy:

1) The NCC refuses to accept foreign military intervention, although it does accept various forms of support for the opposition and supports Arab League involvement in the conflict.
2) It tries to emphasise nonviolent resistance to the Syrian government, despite endorsing the Free Syrian Army.
  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference Hatham_former_ACHR_spokesperson was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ "Guide to the Syrian opposition". BBC News. 25 July 2012. Retrieved 13 November 2011.
  3. ^ a b "Damascus meeting calls for peaceful change in Syria". Reuters UK. 23 September 2012. Archived from the original on 3 October 2012. Retrieved 23 September 2012.
  4. ^ "National Coordination Body for Democratic Change". Carnegie Middle East Center. Retrieved 11 September 2012.
  5. ^ "Syria opposition groups fail to reach accord". Financial Times. 4 January 2012. Retrieved 16 August 2012.
  6. ^ "Meet Syria's Opposition". Foreign Policy. 1 November 2011. Archived from the original on 9 November 2011. Retrieved 13 November 2011.
  7. ^ "Syria's opposition SNC to expand, reform". Agence France-Presse. 2 September 2012. Archived from the original on 19 February 2014. Retrieved 2 September 2012.
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference NBC statement September 23 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).