|
A series of killing of Kurds in Syria
26.1.2009 |
|
|
|
January
26, 2009
We regret to inform you that a number of Kurds in
the Syrian army have been killed.
We are writing this report in the hope that the
world will take note of the need for action to
prevent the ethnic cleansing that will lead to the
genocide of Kurds in Syria.
The Syrian Government has taken advantage of the
world’s attention being focused on other issues to
increase its oppression of its indigenous Kurds. At
the same time, Europe is opening the door to Syria
because this is to its political and economic
advantage, while Kurds live in poverty and despair.
Against this background the Governments of Iran,
Turkey and Syria continue to work together to ensure
that Kurds accept the nationality of their
respective countries as second class citizens at
best, or to drive them out.
Conscripts killed by the
Syrian authorities
The Syrian authorities have reported that Kurdish
conscripts have committed suicide. It is believed
that these people have been killed for their
political activity.
The following examples demonstrate this:
19 January 2009: The soldier Barkhwadan Khalid Hammo
from Qobani town was killed in al-Hassaka while he
was on military service.
13 January 2009: Mohammad Bakkar Sheikh Daada was
killed whist in the army. His family was told that
he had committed suicide. His family does not accept
this because he was known to be a strong character,
and before he went to the army he had been under
arrest for six months due of his activity with the
Kurdish movement. He is known as a Kurdish activist.
27 December 2008, the soldier Ibrahim Rouf’att
Charwish from Afrin town was killed in Damascus
whilst on service and his family was informed that
he had committed suicide.
21 December 2008 the soldier, Siwar Tammo from
Durbassia town was killed in Aleppo, another case of
‘suicide’, as reported by the Syrian authorities.
Others have died under similar circumstances.
Kurdish soldiers have become very afraid that this
may happen to them.
Demonisation of Kurds:
In January 2008 we wrote:
These are very difficult times for the Syrian
Government because it is under a lot of pressure
from America and Britain, especially as the Syrian
Government has been involving itself in the politics
of Iraq and Lebanon, and due to the conflict between
Syria and Israel.
The attached letter is a translation of a directive
sent from the Government to the Armed forces in
Syria at the end of 2007 (dated in the Islamic year
1428 but no month). We understand that this was
released at the time of the Israeli air attack on
Syria. There is no confirmation from the Syrian
Government that this letter is genuine, however some
Kurdish conscripts have recently had their mobile
phone confiscated by their commanding officers. We
are certain that this is a direct result of this
directive.
We are concerned that the intention of this
directive is to place responsibility for troubles in
the Middle East directly on the shoulders of the
Kurdish people, by suggesting that the Kurds were
complicit in the 2007 air attack on Syria by
enabling Israel to gather vital intelligence.
The benefit of this suggestion, to the Syrian
Government would be that:
• Secular opposition parties in Syria will question
whether or not they can trust the Kurdish people and
their political parties, and so they will become
divided and less effective in opposition to the
Syrian Government;
• Islamic groups will be persuaded that Kurdish
people are supportive of Israel, and so will seek to
further disempower them and to take revenge;
• Nationalists in Syria will use this opportunity to
increase their oppression of Kurds and to charge
them with betraying Syria, and will use this as an
excuse to rid Syria of its Kurdish people;
• The directive has been available on the internet
although the Syrian Government has not confirmed
that it is genuine, nor have they spoken about it,
however this does not matter because people believe
what it says, and this encourages a general backlash
against the Kurdish people and political parties.
We know that that the basic human rights of Kurdish
people in Syria have been ignored for many years. We
are deeply concerned that this recent directive is
yet another powerful tool of the Syrian Government
designed to set others against Kurdish people. Kurds
are now extremely worried that as a result they will
be murdered and persecuted by those who have been
looking for an excuse, or who genuinely believe that
this is evidence of Kurdish betrayal of Syria.
We continue to be very concerned that the Syrian
authorities target Kurds. We believe these recent
deaths have occurred because the Kurds are
considered to be traitors,www.ekurd.net
and the Syrian
authorities feel able to dispense of them with
impunity.
We ask that Governments in Europe and USA
investigate these deaths, and that organisations
such as the UN, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty
International continue to show an interest in the
plight of Kurds in Syria.
Others have been held in
detention
The Deputy Foreign Minister , Abdul Fatah Amora in
Syria met with the Ambassors from the Embassies of
UK, France, Germany, Italy, Holland, Slovakia,
Switzerland and with the Ambassador if the European
Commission on 15 January 2008. His government will
indefinitely refuse to accept any negotiations
regarding discussion of human rights in Syria. He
said that because of the events in Gaza and attacks
by Israel, he was no longer going to listen to
criticism of his Government regarding human rights
abuses [see AKI Italian news agency].
We believe that the Syrian Government considers that
it has opened the door to discussions with the rest
of the world, and that it can continue its programme
of ethnic cleansing of Kurds from its borders
without any penalties. We see that Syria is ready to
sign economic agreements with European countries,
and that these countries see Syria as being
essential to the solution for the Middle East.
We need the help of the
outside world
We implore those with authority and responsibility
to put human rights of Kurds at the forefront of any
discussions. Our fear is that our well-being will be
sacrificed on behalf of economic advantage and
politically comfortable solutions, and that this
will allow the Syrian Government to continue its
oppression and eradication of any Kurdish movement
in Syria.
This will lead to mass migration of Kurds from their
ancient homelands into the cities, or into other
countries where they flee for asylum.
People managed to escape illegally because they had
no legal route out of Syria,www.ekurd.net
but they then face being
returned by countries in Europe, for example 7,000
Kurds are being considered for return by the German
Government in agreement between the Syrian
Government’s Interior Minister, Bassam Abdul-Majid
and Federal Minister of the Interior Wolfgang
Schäuble.
On return these people will suffer the same fate as
others who have already been arrested. They are seen
as betrayers of the country. Many Kurds already live
in the slums around Damascus because they have been
driven out of their homes by Decree 49 and the
subsequent lack of work, and by the Arabisation of
their ancient homelands. Others have left Syria
already to work in domestic service in Lebanon and
Jordan, and many have tried to seek asylum in
Europe.
Abuse of non-violent Kurdish activists is
widespread. The following examples give just a part
of the picture:
18 January 2009: Imran al-Saed was arrested for his
involvement with the Kurdish Future Movement in
Syria and was released. He was arrested again on 21
August 2008, and was released on 24 December 2008.
The court sentenced him on 18 January 2009 to one
and a half years in prison for his political
activity, for working with a secret organisation.
17 January 2009: Fawaz Kano, born 1966, worked for
an international non-governmental organisation
called Faw was arrested, together with Zaki Ismael
Khalil born 1977, who was working in the laboratory
at al-Hassaka hospital.
They were arrested by the political security
intelligence service. They worked together with
others who taught the Kurdish people their
mother-tongue in secret, because in Syria the
Kurdish language is banned.
16 January 2009: Kadar Mahmoud Saadoh was arrested
in Qamishli city by intelligence security services.
13 January 2009: Darwish Qalib Darwish, born 1945, a
linguist, and one of the teachers developing the
Kurdish language was arrested in Qamishli city by
the intelligence security services.
11 January 2009: Nasser Daqori, born 1962 was
arrested by the political security services in Amuda
town.
10 January 2009: Mustafa Jum’a, aged 62, the deputy
secretary of the Kurdish Azadi Party in Syria was
arrested by the Syrian military security services
from the office of Farah Palestine in Damascus
3 January 2009: Seedo Rashid Ali, born 1973, from
Afrin town was arrested on in Qamishli city and has
not yet been to Court. He was arrested by the
intelligence security service.
31 October 2008, Salah Saed Unis, a Kurdish activist
was arrested by military security services in Amuda
town.
26 October 2008: Two Kurdish activists were arrested
- Mohammed Saed Hossein al-Omar and Sadoon Mahmoud
Shekho are members of the leading committee of the
Kurdish Azadi Party in Syria. They were arrested by
the Syrian military security services in the towns
of Romelan and Raas al-Ein.
12 October 2008: Salah Khalil Ahmad,www.ekurd.net
born 1970, from Afrin
town and Mohammed Seif al-Din Khudo and Nadir Nawaf
from Durbasier town were arrested and remain in
custody without trial or questioning.
17 May 2008: The political activist Latifa Mohammed
Morad was arrested in Turba Spier town and is held
without trial.
22 April 2008: Mohammad Rasho, Bakara Haaj Muslim,
Noori Ismael Khodder and Saima Ismael Kodda were
arrested on Arfin town and have been detained
without trial since.
3 April 2008: Zena Horro was arrested and remains in
detention without trial.
16 March 2007: Rashad Behnav, an activist was
arrested by political security services in Afrin
town. He is still imprisoned without trial.
Kurds in Syria need the support of the outside
world, and our worry is that the outside world will
ignore them because it is concerned with money and
politics. We believe that genocide is coming.
Kurdish Yekiti Party in Syria – European
organisation
Committee of UK Branch
January 25, 2009, Yekiti.party_uk(a)yahoo.co.uk
Copyright, respective author or news agency
* Syria:
More than 1.5 million Kurds live in Syria, mainly in
the north bordering Turkey and Iraqi Kurdistan
region. They comprise
nine percent of the population and have long sought
official recognition of the Kurdish language and
their culture.
Future Movement advocates democracy and equal rights
for Syria's one million Kurdish minority. The
Kurdish language is not allowed to be taught in
schools and tens of thousands of Kurds were denied
citizenship after a 1960s census.
Freedom of expression remains tightly controlled in
Syria, and security forces have sweeping powers of
arrest and detention.
A total 1,500 people were arrested for political
reasons in 2007 and hundreds more who were arrested
in previous years remained in detention, according
to rights group Amnesty International's 2008 report.
** 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
Top |
Kurd Net
does not take credit for and is not responsible for the content of news
information on this page
|
®
