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Interview with the Chairman of the Kurdish
Future Movement in Syria
20.1.2012
By KurdWatch |
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Mish'al Tammo, a prominent Kurdish political
activist has been shot dead in Qamishli, Syrian
Kurdistan on October 7, 2011.
See Related Links
January 20, 2012
SYRIA, — Rezan Bahri Shaykhmus, Chairman
of the Kurdish Future Movement's Office of General
Communications:
While a people's revolution is taking place
throughout Syria, the Kurdish Patriotic Conference
is arguing and struggling over money.
Rezan Bahri Shaykhmus (b. 1962, married, four
children) is the chairman of the Kurdish Future
Movement's Office of General Communications. The
engineer lives in Syria. In a conversation with
KurdWatch.org, Shaikhmus speaks about the Future
Movement's political work following the
death of its
speaker Mish'al Tammo.
Q: How did the
assassination of Mish'al Tammo on September 11, 2011
impact the Kurdish Future Movement in Syria?
Rezan Bahri Shaykhmus:
Mish'als death left us with a very, very deep wound.
He was like a protective shield for us. He always
placed himself in front of us. He was a gifted
politician and a good theoretician. He helped move
the Future Movement forward and frequently brought
important suggestions to the discussion. Mish'al was
one of the few who stated his political positions
openly and without fear. No one else had done this
like him before. His death has not only damaged the
Future Movement, but the Kurdish movement as a
whole. His openness gave many people courage and
strength. He was among the few Kurdish leaders who
was valued by the Arab opposition. He would have
played an important role for the Kurds in the new
Syria. During the three years that Mish'al spent in
prison, we knew that he would return and infect the
Future Movement with his energy. Now we know he will
not return, and naturally our movement misses him
very much.
Q: For the past
three months, the Future Movement has not had a
speaker. Some claim that leadership cannot agree on
one person. Is that true?
Shaykhmus: No.
Believe me, within the Future Movement there are no
disputes about this question at all. Absolutely not.
According to our party statutes, the speaker is to
be elected directly by the general assembly -
incidentally this is the only leader chosen this
way. We have an office for public relations that
took over the functions of the speaker while Mish'al
was in prison. We are handling this situation in the
same way until we hold our party congress and elect
a new speaker. Regardless, the speaker of the Future
Movement does not hold the highest office. The
speaker is only responsible for public relations.
The highest function is that of the chairman of the
Office of General Communications.
Q: What role did
the other Kurdish parties play in the assassination
of Mish'al Tammo?
Shaykhmus: The
Kurdish parties have a part to play in the moral
responsibility for Mish'al's assassination. We
aren't saying they killed him. It is clear to us
that the regime is responsible, regardless of which
instruments it used. Immediately after Mish'al was
released from prison, he said that he would take
part in the revolution and stand on the side of the
young activists. He said he would not join any
movement that wanted to engage in talks with the
regime. As a result, some Kurdish party leaders
attacked him, disparaged him, and said that he no
longer belonged to the Kurdish movement. After the
first attempt on his life,www.ekurd.net
we formed a joint commission with the activists'
coordinating committees. The commission engaged in
talks with all of the Kurdish parties, appealed to
their sense of responsibility, and asked them to
release a statement. Unfortunately they did not do
this. The Secretary of el-Partî, ʿAbdulhakim Bashar,
even claimed that Mish'al only wanted to make
himself seem important with his stories of an
assassination attempt and that the tale he presented
to us was like one out of a bad Indian film.
Q: What role did
the PYD play in Mish'al's assassination? It claims
that Turkey shares responsibility for his
assassination.
Shaykhmus: That
is absolutely not true. Turkey had nothing to do
with his death; no one there had any interest in the
assassination of Mish'al. Why would the Turks have
him killed? We had serious disputes with the PYD;
they vigorously attacked Mish'al again and again.
But once more, no one could have killed Mish'al
without the approval of the regime. The Syrian
intelligence services killed Mish'al Tammo. The
Kurdish movement could have profited greatly from
Mish'al's death. After his death at the very latest,
they would have had to have actively participated in
the Syrian revolution. Had this been the case, I am
sure that we Kurds would have been able to foster
the success of the revolution and the achievement of
its goals. Such a role would have had positive
consequences for the realization of Kurdish demands
in the new Syria.
Q: In an
interview with KurdWatch, Mish'al Tammo stated that
the Kurds would take to the streets en masse if even
one single Kurd were to be killed at demonstrations
in the Kurdish regions. Following his funeral, two
demonstrators were killed in al-Qamishli. Yet a
protest by hundreds of thousands failed to
materialize. Why is that?
Shaykhmus: On
the evening of Mish'al's assassination, the Kurdish
political movement took steps to keep the number of
participants at the funeral small. They contacted
the family and convinced them to bury Mish'al in his
village. We as the Future Movement wanted to bury
him in al-Qamishli in order to turn his funeral
procession and the ensuing days of mourning into
large demonstrations. If the Kurdish Patriotic
Conference is not in the position to defend a single
individual, how can it advocate for the rights of a
people? The Kurdish political parties do not want
the Kurds to demonstrate against the regime.
Q: Who decided
where Mish'al would be buried?
Shaykhmus: The
family. But the Kurdish movement sent
representatives to Mish'al's mother and asked her if
more people should die like her son, simply because
he is buried in al-Qamishli. The mother was put
under pressure, and thus it was decided that he
would be buried in his village. If a different
decision had been made, the demonstrations also
would have taken a different turn.
Q: How are
Zahida and Mish'al's son Marsil, both of whom were
injured in the attack on Mish'al?
Shaykhmus:
Considering the circumstances, both are doing well.
Marsil is doing better than Zahida. She was shot
twice in the leg. The bullets were dumdums that
shattered her bones. It will be a long time before
she can walk again without help.
Q: Does the
Future Movement want to work together with the
Kurdish Patriotic Conference? If so, under what
conditions?
Shaykhmus: Given
their stance towards the regime and towards the
Syrian revolution, we currently cannot work with the
Conference. If they would take a clear stance on the
following points, then nothing more would stand in
the way of cooperation. Firstly, the conference must
take a clear position towards the Syrian regime.
Secondly, mechanisms must be developed to offer
stronger support to the Syrian revolution in the
Kurdish regions. Thirdly, concrete demands regarding
Kurdish rights in the new Syria must be formulated,
independent of outside influences and in the
interests of the Syrian Kurds. Fourthly and finally,
activists and nonpartisans must have stronger
representation within the Kurdish Patriotic
Conference.
Q: What do you
mean by a "clear position towards the Syrian
regime"? This phrase itself is anything but clear.
Shaykhmus: We
clearly state that the regime must be overthrown. We
no longer have any hope that this regime can do
anything for the people. This isn't something we've
just started saying today. Since our formation in
2005, we've said that we see ourselves as an
oppositional movement. That's why we have rejected
all talks with the regime.
Q: Will you
continue to engage in talks with representatives of
the Kurdish Patriotic Conference?
Shaykhmus: The
door for a dialogue is always open. Nevertheless, we
are working on forming a new political group, the
Union of Kurdish Democratic Forces; its entire focus
will be on the revolution. It's possible that we
will then form a committee to coordinate between us
and the other Kurdish coalition.
Q: The groups
that will be represented in this bloc are either
only active abroad and have no base in Kurdistan,
like, for example, the Kurdistan Union Party in
Syria, or they have hardly any supporters, like, for
example, ʿAbdurrahman Aluji's Kurdish Democratic
Party-Syria. Only the Future Movement and the
activists' coordinating groups are politically
active in Syria. Doesn't working with these weak
political groups hurt the Future Movement?
Shaykhmus: There
are seventeen or eighteen Kurdish parties in Syria.
The Kurdish Patriotic Conference also represents
large and small parties. The same is true for our
bloc. We have parties with a broad base; others have
less influence. What connects us is our common
political stance. Why shouldn't we come together on
this basis? We want to build a civil, pluralistic,
and democratic Syria. We don't mind if Syria has two
Kurdish blocs that, along with the Democratic Union
Party (PYD), represent the Kurds in
Syrian-Kurdistan. There are simply two blocs,
representing two different political directions.
Q: Do you really
believe that one can more easily build a modern
Syrian state with ʿAbdurrahman Aluji and Abdulbasit
Hammu than, for example, with Abdulhakim Bashar?
Shaykhmus: We
have set our hopes above all on our young activists
and their coordinating committees. We have them to
thank for the fact that the Kurds are a part of the
Syrian revolution. What these young people have
achieved in eight, nine months, the Kurdish parties
have not achieved in fifty years. We want to build
the new Syria with them. We want to form a new bloc
with them in the hope that we can later jointly form
a new, influential Kurdish party.
Q: Aside from
the Yekîtî, the Future Movement is the only party
that has been demonstrating with the activists for
the past eight, nine months. The other parties have
only been taking part in the demonstrations in the
Kurdish regions for the past month. Nevertheless,
six youth groups have joined the Kurdish Patriotic
Conference. Why?
Shaykhmus: Those
who have joined the Kurdish Patriotic Conference do
no represent the independent youth; they are a part
of these parties.
Q: To what
extent do your demands specific to the Kurds differ
from those of the Kurdish Patriotic Conference?
Shaykhmus: The
essential difference is in our stance towards the
regime and towards the Syrian revolution as well as
in our relationship to the opposition. We say that
the new Syrian constitution must recognize the Kurds
as a main ethnicity. They say that the Kurds are the
country's second ethnicity. Second ethnicity means
that we will not have equal rights. Being a main
ethnicity means that we are equal partners in this
state. The other Kurdish parties see the Kurdish
question as a regional matter. In contrast, we want
to be partners in all of Syria. We say that just as
the Arabs are partners in our regions, so are we
partners in their regions. We also want to
participate in the political processes in other
parts of Syria in which there is no Kurdish
majority, as, for example, in Damascus. Together
with the Arabs, we want to build the new Syria and
assume responsibility.
Q: At the end of
November, the Kurdistan Regional Government Iraq
invited twenty-one members of the Kurdish Patriotic
Conference to Erbil to discuss the situation of the
Kurds in Syria and the Syrian revolution. After the
members of the delegation returned, disagreements
allegedly arose. What happened?
Shaykhmus: While
a people's revolution is taking place throughout
Syria, the Kurdish Patriotic Conference is arguing
and struggling over money that was used to bribe its
members in Iraqi-Kurdistan so that the Iraqi-Kurds
would gain influence. Salih Gado announced his
resignation from the executive committee after each
of the twenty-one delegates allegedly received ten
thousand US dollars from the KDP-Iraq. This behavior
is shameful and not worthy of political
organizations. There must be consequences.
Q: How do you
see the future of the Future Movement? Will it fade
into irrelevance without a charismatic leader like
Mish'al Tammo?
Shaykhmus: I am
convinced that the Future Movement will play a role
in the period of the revolution and in building the
new Syria. The number of friends and supporters of
the Future Movement is growing day by day. It may be
that today we have no one who can take Mish'al's
place. He really had charisma and possessed
leadership qualities. We are trying to fill the void
that he left behind by energizing the Future
Movement's institutions, pushing teamwork, and
enlisting everyone in formulating political
decisions. We in the Future Movement are determined
to carry on Mish'al Tammo's politics, a politics
that serves the interests of the entire Syrian
people.
December 18, 2011
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