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The road to Iran runs through Kurdistan -
And starts in Syria
17.4.2008
By Sherko Abbas |
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April
17, 2008
The major remaining obstacle to Iraq's achieving
political and military surcease is Iranian-backed
Muqtada al-Sadr, and the major obstacle to
Israeli-Arab peacemaking is Syrian-backed terrorism.
The Iranian octopus funds unrest throughout the
Middle East, and Syrian tentacles have strangled
Democracy from Lebanon to Gaza to Iraq's al-Anbar
Province to the Sudan.
But Syria's hegemony is also inward-directed,
targeting its largest ethnic minority, the Kurds.
Lacking representation in this Ba'athist regime,
Kurdistan of Syria (its capital is Qamishlo) needs
international support to replicate Iraq's success in
meshing tripartite ethnicity (Shiite, Sunni, Kurd),
itself mirroring the inherent strength of America's
"melting pot" legacy.
Thus, the next move in this geopolitical chess game
must focus on optimizing legitimate Kurdish
interests in Syria - not withstanding the Turkish-PKK
conflict - for it promises incremental isolation of
Iran's mullahs. |
Dr Sherkoh Abbas is the President of the Kurdistan
National Assembly of Syria. |
Kurdish unrest stems from a 1962 census, which
stripped Kurds of their citizenship rights. Even if
Kurds proved Syrian-residence dating from Ottoman
Empire or the French mandate, or if they had served
in the military, they still lost their nationality.
Since then, even if they met requirements for
regaining citizenship, they were unable to acquire
recognition. As a result, Arabs were resettled on
confiscated land in the northeast region - rich in
natural resources - to buffer Syrian and Turkish
Kurds.
This "Arabization policy" has resulted in rendering
its 300,000 Kurds "stateless foreigners" and subject
to oppression. Syria's Constitution affords no
protection for Kurds - or, indeed, for any other
minorities. They have been rendered "non-citizens"
and thereby deprived of basic rights to obtain basic
social services.
They cannot own property, vote, be publicly
employed, travel freely within the country, obtain
passports or even practice certain professions (such
as medicine or teaching). Couples are deemed
"single" and, thus, cannot share a hotel room or
register their children. These 100,000 children of
unrecognized marriages are denied access to
education, food subsidies and health care and, thus,
are forced to work, aspiring to menial careers of
cotton-picking, cigarette-selling and shoe-shining.
Some Kurds have attempted to be smuggled abroad,
after which time they have sought refugee status.
Their plight prompted supportive actions from
international organizations such as the European
Union and the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.
As recently as this past summer, the Human Rights
Committee - the body of independent experts that
monitors implementation of the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights by its State
parties - again called upon Syria to "protect and
promote the rights of non-citizen Kurds."
It is ironic, also, that the 40 million Kurds are
non-Arab, predominantly Sunni Muslims. Despite being
co-religionists, they have become inveigled in
Syria's support of the Islamic v. Judeo-Christian
clash of civilizations.
Iraq provides a model for how to resolve the
tug-of-war between nationalism and regionalism.
The Iraqi Constitution allows for its 18 provinces
to elect to congeal their resources to join into
cooperative territories. It might even be possible
to apply the Kurdish Peshmerga model when
authorizing local militias to police their own
neighborhoods, to relate with indigenous populations
with which they harbor cultural linkages.
This would be akin to America's state-level national
guards that coexist under the auspices of the
national military. It would not undermine the Iraqi
army's efforts to protect borders and to defeat
out-of-control private militias (e.g., the Mahdi
Army).
All the while, quasi-autonomous Kurdistan serves as
a homeland to which Kurds living abroad emigrate and
pay visits, just as Israel interrelates with (and
enriches) Jews living in the Diaspora. Similarly,
other countries could be encouraged (gently or more
forcibly) to allow their peoples to mesh a
countrywide sense of patriotism with a local sense
of pride.
Because the nations comprising the Middle East were
arbitrarily created after World War I, unrest among
definable sub-groups constantly threatens their
stability. America must help them to evolve from
dictatorship to democracy, from autocracy to
freedom,www.ekurd.net
from militarism to
free-market economies, from suppression of human
rights to the creation of city-states that can
flourish in this new millennium. This modernization
effort must include legitimizing nationalistic
urges, for resolving such chronic conflict would
enhance creation of a durable peace in this volatile
region. One excellent example of a democratic and
free-market region is the Kurdistan Regional
Government in Iraq.
As the United States envisions a diminution of
involvement in Iraq, engendered has been a country
that respects women's rights and human rights. Just
as Iraq recognizes the right of self-determination
for definable nationalities, America will do well to
empower whole populations elsewhere that nurture
traditions that transcend artificial boundaries.
Syria serves as a useful target for the ongoing
struggle to liberate peoples such as the Kurds, for
their freedom will necessarily undermine despots who
aspire to impose Shariah law locally and
internationally. Sultanates and Islamic republics
that accommodate minorities are just fine; worldwide
caliphates under Dhimmi are not.
Finally, free world leaders need to answer the
following question: Why there are 22 Arab states,
but not a single Kurdish state?
Sherkoh Abbas is president of the Kurdistan National
Assembly of Syria. He may be contacted at sherkoh
(at) gmail.com. Dr. Sklaroff
is a hematologist, oncologist and internist. He may
be contacted at rsklaroff (at) comcast.net.
Copyright, respective author or news agency,
theeveningbulletin com
** 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)
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