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Syrian Kurdistan: Kurdish youth killed in
north Syria protest, mood tense
4.11.2007 |
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November
4, 2007
Qamishlo, Syrian Kurdistan,-- Security forces
killed a Kurdish youth and wounded four other Kurds
in northeastern Syria while breaking up a protest
against a possible Turkish incursion into Iraqi
Kurdistan, witnesses and Kurdish activists said on
Sunday.
The incident revived the issue of longstanding
Kurdish grievances in tightly controlled Syria and
evoked painful memories of demonstrations and riots
a few years ago that killed 30 people.
Witnesses said Issa Khalil, 24, was among a group of
200 Kurds who gathered in the Kurdish city of
Qamishli (Qamishlo in Kurdish) on Friday in support
of their brethren across the border in Iraqi
Kurdistan autonomous region.
The city was the scene of anti-government riots in
2004 that spread to Kurdish areas across Syria.
Machal Jammo, a Kurdish activist, told Reuters
police fired bullets and teargas to break up the
demonstrations. Protesters responded by throwing
stones.
"Syria wants to send a message of support to Turkey.
But its hostility to the Kurdish presence in the
region risks a repeat of the 2004 anger on a larger
scale," said Jammo, an official in the Kurdish
Future Movement, which advocates democracy and equal
rights for Syria's one million Kurdish minority.
Thousands of Kurds turned out for Khalil's funeral
in Qamishly on Saturday. Witnesses said security
forces surrounded the funeral procession but did not
interfere.
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Kurdish city of Qamishlo was the scene of anti-Baath-government
riots in 2004 that spread to Kurdish areas across
Syria
Kurds in Syria riots in
2004 |
We could be looking at
more funerals, which is keeping the situation tense.
Two of the four with wounds are in serious
condition," a resident of the city said.
There was no comment from the Syrian authorities.
Qamishly is heavily policed and news from the city
is slow to filter out.
Police in the northern town of Aleppo prevented an
anti-Turkish demonstration last week but there were
no casualties, human right activists said.
TIES
Turkey has amassed around 100,000 soldiers on its
border with Iraqi Kurdistan autonomous region for a
possible attack on Turkey's PKK separatists who have
launched strikes against Turkish forces.
Baghdad has sought to calm Turkey, saying it is
prepared to pursue guerrilla leaders responsible for
raids into Turkey to avert an invasion.
Syrian President
Bashar al-Assad expressed
support for Turkey's policy toward
the PKK on a visit to Ankara last month, although
Information Minister Mohsen Bilal later said Assad
did not back a Turkish attack on Iraqi Kurdistan. www.ekurd.net
Syria backs the possible Turkish inclusion into
Iraqi Kurdistan to prevent of creating of a Kurdish
state in Kurdistan region 'northern Iraq', fearing
this could fan separatism among its own large
Kurdish population in northern Syria (The western
part of
big Kurdistan). www.ekurd.net
Relations between Ankara and Damascus improved
sharply in recent years as Kurdish power has risen
in Iraqi Kurdistan region. In an interview with al-Jazeera
television, Iraq's Kurdistan president Massoud
Barzani described Syria's position toward Iraqi
Kurdistan as "negative."
Syria's overtures toward Turkey have not gone down
well with Syria's own Kurdish minority which
includes thousands of disenfranchised Kurds without
passports or official documents to own property or
use government services.
Under Turkish pressure, Syria has cracked down on
the Turkey's PKK. A security court handed several
PKK members long sentences last year in trials
criticized by human rights groups as illegitimate.
Iraqi Kurdish politician says, Turkey is using a
Kurdish separatist PKK rebel group as an excuse to
invade Kurdistan region 'Iraq' to prevent the
establishment of Kurdistan state in the Kurdish
autonomous region in 'northern Iraq', Ankara fears this could fan separatism among its own
large Kurdish population in southeast Turkey.
Syria banned the PKK after a confrontation with
Turkey in 1998 over the group's activities. The two
countries came close to a military conflict before
Damascus met Turkey's request to expel PKK leader
Abdullah Ocalan, who was later arrested and jailed
by Turkey.
Reuters
** Kurds are the largest ethnic minority in Syria
making up 10% of the country's population i.e. about
two million.
Kurds in Syria often speak Kurdish in public,
unless all those present do not. Kurdish human
rights activists are mistreated and persecuted. No
political parties are allowed for any group, Kurdish
or otherwise.
Suppression of ethnic identity of
Kurds in Syria include: various bans on the use of
the Kurdish language; refusal to register children
with Kurdish names; replacement of Kurdish place
names with new names in Arabic; prohibition of
businesses that do not have Arabic names; not
permitting Kurdish private schools; and the
prohibition of books and other materials written in
Kurdish.
More about Kurds in Syria - (Kurdistan-Syria)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
** Since 1991, the Kurds of Iraq achieved self-rule
in part of the country. Today's teenagers are the
first generation to grow up under Kurdish rule. In
the new Iraqi Constitution, it is referred to as
Kurdistan region. Kurdistan region has all the
trappings of an independent state -- its own
constitution, its own parliament, its own flag, its
own army, its own border, its own border patrol, its
own national anthem, its own education system, its
own International airports, even its own stamp inked
into the passports of visitors.
** Kurds are not recognized as an official minority
in Turkey and are denied rights granted to other
minority groups. Under EU pressure, Turkey recently
granted Kurds limited rights for broadcasts and
education in the Kurdish language, but critics say
the measures do not go far enough.
The use of the term "Kurdistan" is vigorously
rejected due to its alleged political implications
by the Republic of Turkey, which does not recognize
the existence of a "Turkish Kurdistan" Southeast
Turkey.
Others estimate over 40 million Kurds live in Big
Kurdistan (Iraq, Turkey, Syria, Iran, Armenia),
which covers an area as big as France, about half of
all Kurds which estimate to 20 million live in
Turkey.
Turkey is home to over 25 million ethnic Kurds, some
of whom openly sympathise with the Kurdish PKK for a
Kurdish homeland in the country's mainly Kurdish
southeast of Turkey.
Before August 2002, the Turkish government placed
severe restrictions on the use of Kurdish language,
prohibiting the language in education and broadcast
media. The Kurdish alphabet is still not recognized
in Turkey, and use of the Kurdish letters X, W, Q
which do not exist in the Turkish alphabet has led
to judicial persecution in 2000 and 2003
The Kurdish flag flown officially in Iraqi Kurdistan
but unofficially flown by Kurds in Armenia. The flag
is banned in Iran, Syria, and Turkey where flying it
is a criminal offence"
Southeastern Turkey:
North Kurdistan (
Kurdistan-Turkey)
wikipedia
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