Rojava

Democratic Federal System of Northern Syria النظام الاتحادي الديمقراطي لشمال سوريا Sîstema Federaliya Demokratîka Bakûrê Sûriyê
Flag Coat of arms
Under NSR administration (green), claimed (orange)
Status	De facto autonomous federation of Syria
Capital	Qamişlo (Qamishli) 37°03′N 41°13′E / 37.050°N 41.217°E / 37.050; 41.217
Official languages	Kurdish Syriac-Aramaic Arabic
Government	Democratic socialist (Democratic Confederalism)
• Co-President	Hediya Yousef
• Co-President	Mansur Selum
Autonomous region
• Autonomy proposed	July 2013
• Autonomy declared	November 2013
• Regional government established	November 2013
• Interim constitution adopted	January 2014
• Federation declared	17 March 2016
Population
• 2014 estimate	4.6 million (half of them internal refugees)
Currency	Syrian pound (SYP)
Time zone	EET (UTC+2)
Drives on the	right

Rojava (IPA: [roʒɑˈvɑ], "the West" in Kurdish) is a de facto autonomous region originating in and consisting of three self-governing cantons in northern Syria, namely Afrin Canton, Jazira Canton and Kobanî Canton, as well as adjacent areas of northern Syria like Shahba region. The region gained its de facto autonomy as part of the ongoing Rojava conflict and the wider Syrian Civil War, establishing and gradually expanding a secular polity based on the Democratic Confederalism principles of democratic socialism, gender equality, and sustainability.

On 17 March 2016, its de facto administration self-declared the establishment of a federal system of government as the Federation of Northern Syria–Rojava (Kurdish: Federasyona Bakurê Sûriyê – Rojava‎, Arabic: فدرالية شمال سوريا - روجآڤا‎‎, commonly abbreviated as NSR). While entertaining some foreign relations, the NSR is not officially recognized as autonomous by the government of Syria or any international state or organization. The protagonists of the NSR consider its constitution a model for a federalized Syria as a whole. The updated December 2016 constitution of the polity uses the name Democratic Federal System of Northern Syria (Kurdish: Sîstema Federaliya Demokratîka Bakûrê Sûriyê‎, Arabic: النظام الاتحادي الديمقراطي لشمال سوريا‎‎).