Syrian Kurds Seek Autonomy 31.8.2011

August 31, 2011

Arab Spring Issue 28

Since the Syrian uprisings started, the country’s Kurds have acted in partnership with the Arabs.

All the opposition movements in Syria say the Kurds are their brothers. That may be true, but unfortunately brother-and-sister relationships don’t often work out in politics. It’s much better to be partners.

Kurds and Arabs have very little in common. We have different languages and practise our faith in different ways. Most of the Kurds in Syria are Sunni Muslims, but there are also Christians and Yezidis among them. There used to be Jewish Kurds, but they emigrated to Israel. We have long been discriminated against by the Syrian regime.
Syrian Kurds living in Lebanon chant slogans and a Kurdish flag during a protest in solidarity with anti-government protesters in Syria, in front of the Syrian embassy in Beirut, April 29, 2011. Reuters
In 2004, clashes between supporters of the local Kurdish team in the northeast town of Qamishli and fans of the Arab team they were playing led to fighting in which many people were killed, and others were arrested and mistreated. No one came to our aid then.

Kurds are now staging peaceful demonstrations against the regime in the areas where they are in the majority. A few have been killed, although the numbers don’t compare to those elsewhere. Kurdish-dominated demonstrations have not been attacked, and Kurdish protestors in Damascus and Aleppo have largely escaped serious injury.

It seems the regime does not want to kill us, and I believe that is because the Allawite regime believes the Kurds are the only section of society that might stick by it.

It is doing its best to win the Kurds over. In April, for example, the government finally granted citizenship to around 3,000 Kurds. But since the number of disenfranchised Kurds is close to 300,000, the gesture was almost worthless.

In any case, Kurds are now less concerned about gaining citizenship than with pressing for autonomy. I would say 99 per cent of them want an independent Kurdish region. We look at Iraqi Kurdistan and ask why we can’t have the same.

We are aware that this is unattainable at the moment, so for now our ambition is a Kurdish state within a federal Syria. Once we acquire the knowledge we need to run our own country,www.ekurd.netmaybe one day we will be able to go beyond that.

Some activists say that if the whole of Syria achieves democracy, then the rights of Christians, Kurds and other minorities will be secured. But not everyone believes such promises. As the old saying goes, “The only friends the Kurds have are the mountains.”

We don’t see ourselves as Syrian and we don’t feel Syrian in our hearts, because we have always been treated as outsiders.

I fear conflict between Kurds and Arabs if and when President Bashar al-Assad goes. The Kurds will not sit back quietly, and I don’t believe the Arabs will accept a federal solution for Syria, so there could even be civil war.

Even if Assad is toppled or resigns, the state system will remain in place. It is deeply rooted. For instance, security is so tight that you even need a permit to arrange a small wedding party.

Kurds are taking part in the Syrian revolution because our ultimate aim is to be rid of the current regime and create a federal state. That does not mean we want to take away part of Syria, and the international community needs to understand this. We are not guests in Syria – we live in a part of our historical homeland.

My views are shared by lots of Kurds within Syria. Those in the diaspora are less outspoken, but they share the same aim. We are the best of allies for the Arabs, but we have a different agenda.

Kawa Youssef, originally from Syria and now living in London, Kawa Youssef is a 26-year-old student of oil engineering and a Kurdish activist.

http://www.ekurd.net/mismas/articles/misc2011/8/syriakurd347.htm

 

So why don't Syrian Kurds move to Iraq???

 

Coz they'd be fighting with Iraqi Kurds + killing each other as they've done for centuries ..

 

Good luck to the Kurds of Syria, Turkey, Iran and Iraq. It's time for them to have their own homeland.

 

Why don't you give then your homestate?

 

Oh Margot. You're going to make me talk to you aren't you?

My home state of California has been taken over by settlers and colonists. No one cries for me. So why should I cry for the Palestinians?

 

because they didnt move there from iraq in the 1st place .
and why dont Palestinians move to the deserts of Saudia Libya or Egypt ??

 

most stupid post so far . kurds only ever fought against each other in south kurdistan . and all civilized nations have done so in the past as well like US EU and so on .... its called a civil war in case you were unaware of it . and it will never happen again and it hasnt .

 

after Syiran kurds it will be autonomy for kurds in Turkey then lastly Iran , iran will be the easiest once the mullahs fall with there turbans , all the different ethnics in iran will go their separate ways they are Kurds arabs azheri baluchi persians and turkmens .

 

Free Kurdistan is not far.
It will take another 20 years to get there.
They already have de-facto autonomy in Iraq, they fight for it in Turkey and once Assad the butcher is toppled they will have one in Syria. Only Iran is prolonging the process, but they will make thier mistake soon enough.

 

yeah exactly well said . its time for oppressed to gain freedom in ME .

 

Do you think the Kurds will have three countries?

 

its possible , there are so many arab countries and kurds have there own lands which were divided and was awarded to turks persians and arabs in 1923 by brits and french , they deserve to control there own lands and borders and call it there own state and it doesnt matter what they call them .

on another hand Turkish government must be scared to death now They know when Assad goes , the Kurdish regions in Syria maybe absorbed by Peshmerga and into the KRG. it explains there recent attacks on KRG and killing of 7 civilians but its ok it didnt work out for Gaddafi Mubarak Tunsia and Yaman , it wont work out for Turkey either .

 

More likely that Iran would fill any vacuum caused by the fall of Syria.

 

freedom comes with blood split as we all seen in the arab world . so kurds are ready to split more blood for a freedom it was confiscated from them in 1923 .

yeah im sure that's what Israel and US will let Iran do , are you forgetting Iran is in line after Syria ?

Us just listed iran as the most dangerous state for supporting terrorist groups which are :

Hamas
Hizbullah
Taliban
Ansar al suna
Shia armed groups in iraq.

Good luck iran.

 

I think its ridiculous for a once nomadic minority to expect to get chunks of land that have been inhabited by mixed people for thousands of years.

I have to question character when people cannot make concessions to their neighbors and learn how to get along.

 

lol your king of the kings Saddam tried to oppose our freedom , what chance Assad has now ? and its our land not mixed people its lands of kurds and occupiers have no chance but to give it back as struggle will continue for turkey and iran .

and your not 1st and last to call kurds names and its no offense but gives us more momentum to fight for freedom and a free KURDISTAN.

 

kurds only live in kurdistan populated religion across iran turkey and syria and they will not give up their fight for every inch of their lands untill freedom is accomplished . so now its only turkey and iran and once iran is down very soon turkey has no choice and power to oppose kurds by itself .... its time for freedom we have shed alot of blood and have been struggling since 1923 ..

and there is nothing haters and racist people like you can do to stop us once democracy is in place across the Arab world as they were victims of the same past . its actually pushing us more to gain our state of Kurdistan.

 

Kurds have changed alliances more often them some change their shorts.

Why do you suppose Kurds are in Lebanon, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Israel and southern Russia?

You don't have rights to the land of others.. You have the right to assimilate and participate.

 

nope we want our land to be controlled by us not arabs persians or turks .... kurds in russia are spread and have migrated from the 4 parts of kurdistan , also the same for lebanon . but the main 4 parts have always been populated by kurds before even syria turkey and iran existed with current borders and state names .

like i said its time for freedom and this time the freed nations will have our back as they went through the same fate as us .

 

Alan ignore margot he is a fool and discussing with a fool is not in your advantage, this man has his agenda, but he is a very uneducated man, he keeps repeating the same things even though I have replied to them one thousands times, and when I give him an educated reply he just ignores it.

Now watch him reply to this, becuase his brain only comprehends the most simple words.

 

On topic:

Syria Kurds have no experience in running a government, but I hear the KRG might send retired politicians and ministers of required, its very simple, thousands of Kurds there don't have citizenship, all the KRG has to do is send some retired Kurds that are Badini, no one will tell the difference.

 

Actually I am female and my only agenda is to see peace rather than the creation of several new Israel's that will be embroiled in ongoing genocide and on the US dole.

The Kurds can do better than their present course.

I never noticed you before.

 

we do not compare to Israel as we already live in our lands all needs to be done it UN recognition .

you truly are ignorant and foolish .

 

here is the map that is called KRG the semi-state south kurdistan and all its missing is a UN seat