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Kurdish opposition quits Syrian National
Council
6.4.2012
By Lauren Williams, The Daily Star |
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Kurds protest in Qamishli, a main Kurdish city in
Syrian Kurdistan, Western Kurdistan.
See Related Links
Kurds split from Syrian
opposition council —protesting Turkish pressure
April 6, 2012
ISTANBUL, — The Syrian Kurdish opposition
bloc has walked away from the Syrian National
Council, exposing deep and problematic rifts within
the umbrella opposition group just days after
international leaders granted the body extra
recognition after attempts to unify.
Syrian Kurdish opposition leader Abdul-Baki Yousef,
a leading member of the Kurdish Yakiti party in
Syria and former member of the Kurdish National
Council, charged host country Turkey with
“pressuring the SNC” to omit the demands of the
Kurdish opposition members in the final constitution
document outlining a transition plan for Syria.
The fiercely divided SNC pulled the document
together at the last minute under pressure to unite
from the “Friends of Syria” group.
The Friends group – which includes Turkey, the
United States, the United Kingdom, France and Gulf
states – recognized the SNC as “a legitimate
representative of the Syrian people,” falling well
short of the recognition as the legal government in
exile they had hoped for after the first Friends of
Syria meeting in Tunis in February.
“Our goal was to unify with the opposition and come
up with a patriotic agreement that makes an umbrella
for the whole opposition, but unfortunately the
Turkish sponsor was very sensitive toward the
Kurdish issue,” Yousef told The Daily Star. “We
accuse the Turkish government of putting pressure on
the council.”
Yousef said that negotiations ahead of the
conference had outlined recognition of the Kurds,www.ekurd.net
but claimed that those points had been removed in
the final covenant.
“There was nothing clear about our nationalistic
issues. It’s clear that the Islamists and the Muslim
Brotherhood are the majority of the council so they
play a main role in the council.
“The Muslim Brotherhood has an old relationship with
Turkey, they are allies of the Turkish government,”
he said.
“Of course we welcome the Brotherhood’s effective
contribution to the revolution and support of
individual freedoms and pluralism in Syria ... but
their attitude is highly influenced by the Turks,
and that’s what we saw clearly displayed in the
national charter.”
Kurdish representatives had earlier walked out of
unity talks days ahead of the Friends of Syria
meeting.
Yousef said in the absence of adequate recognition
from the SNC that the Kurdish bloc would continue to
negotiate with separatist group the Kurdistan
Workers Party (PKK) and other nationalist entities
to secure their demands.
“Of course we are negotiating with the PKK and other
Kurdish personnel in the SNC because there is
neglect and ignorance toward the Kurdish issues ...
This is our land we are part of the Syrian people.
We are not refugees here.”
Turkey – home to between 11 and 15 million Kurds,
most of whom reside in southeastern provinces – is
engaged in a decades-long military conflict with the
PKK, resulting in the deaths of over 40,000 people.
Late last month PKK commanders threatened to
transform Kurdish areas into a “war zone” if Turkey
followed through on threats to establish militarily
protected buffer zones in the country. This prompted
fears the PKK may capitalize on the hostility they
share with Damascus toward Turkey to stir strife in
the country.
Ammar Qurabi, a leading negotiator and head of a
breakaway Syrian opposition bloc, the National
Coalition for Change, pressured the SNC to back
military assistance for the Syrian opposition. He
struck out at the Kurdish claims, denying Turkey had
pressured the council.
“The Kurds need to stop talking about being Kurds
and talk about being Syrian. This is not about any
kind of sectarianism. We need to act all as
Syrians.”
Copyright ©, respective author or news agency,
dailystar.com.lb
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