Syrian Muslim Sunni scholar Sheikh Adnan al-Aroor rejects Kurdish separation

Syrian Muslim Sunni scholar rejects Kurdish separation

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Syrian Muslim Sunni scholar rejects Kurdish separation 19.8.2012

Saudi-based Sheikh Adnan Mohammed al-Aroor is a Sunni cleric from Hama. Photo: Al-Arabia TV. • See Related Links

August 19, 2012

AMSTERDAM,— In a recent television program, Syrian preacher Sheikh Adnan al-Aroor, who has become influential through his controversial speeches attacking the Syrian government, spoke harshly about the Kurds.

According to Al Arabiya, Aroor has become one of the Syrian uprising’s symbolic figures and a source of motivation for those who aspire to topple President Bashar al-Assad’s regime. He has become especially influential among Sunnis in Syria who support the opposition.

Aroor frequently appears on the Saudi channel Wisal and the Kuwaiti satellite channel Safa. A few weeks ago, he responded to a TV host who asked him about the increasing control Syrian Kurds have over Kurdish areas in Syria, saying “do what you wish, but we will not permit the division of Syria. We will not permit it; we will not permit it; we will not permit the division of Syria.”

This increased concern among Syrian Kurdish parties. They already fear the influence of the Muslim Brotherhood on the Syrian opposition, as well as foreign countries like Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Most Kurdish parties refused to become part of the Syrian National Council (SNC) due to its close links with Turkey and Islamist groups, although its current head Abdulbaset Sieda is a Kurd.

On the program, Aroor also said that while Kurds would have equal rights with Arabs in Syria, he would not permit the division of Syria into "ethnic or sectarian regions and cantons."

Omar Hossino, author of a report on Syria's Kurdish opposition for the Henry Jackson Society, told Rudaw, “Aroor's statement makes it clear that the tensions between Syrian Kurdish opposition groups and Arab opposition groups, especially the Islamists, are getting even more real with the developments on the ground.”

Bekir Mustafa, a member of the Kurdish Youth Movement, thinks Aroor’s statement is not a good sign, especially with Free Syrian Army (FSA) head Riad al-Asaad also allegedly saying he would not accept any Kurdish self-rule in Syria.

“His language promises a bad future,” Mustafa said. “We expect someone like him [a religious figure] to be a mediator between Kurds and other nations. So it’s not good for the Syrian revolution to threaten 15 percent of the Syrian population who are Kurds.”

Mustafa added that there is no clause in the constitution of Syrian Kurdish political parties that calls for separation. “Not the PYD [Democratic Union Party] or any other Kurdish party calls for separation. All of them are for self-rule within Syria.”

Kawa Rashid, a representative of the Movement of Syrian Kurdistan youth group, agreed. “We do not listen to the opposition, nor the Muslim Brotherhood, Aroor,www.ekurd.net the Free Syrian Army or anyone else. The Kurds will decide their own future in Syrian Kurdistan. We do not want separation, but a form of federalism or autonomy. We are not going back to the old Syria ruled by Assad.”

PYD representative Alan Semo agreed that no Kurdish party has demanded separation in their political program.

Thomas McGee, a researcher studying Syria’s Kurds, told Rudaw, “It should be noted that much of Sheikh Aroor's prominence as an opposition figure is derived from such provocation. His refusal even to engage in the debate on Kurdish self-determination is disappointing. He seemingly equates regional administration by Syria's Kurds as an automatic challenge to the integrity of Syria's sovereignty.”

According to McGee, the statements of Aroor and Asaad might have the opposite effect than what they intended. “Kurdish self-determination in all its forms should be considered and debated as a possible, real solution to the current situation in Syria. Ironically, while many Kurds are now working to prevent manifestations of sectarian tension within Syria, Aroor's own comments (here and elsewhere) have a strongly divisive potential.”

By Vladimir van Wilgenburg

Copyright ©, respective author or news agency, rudaw.net

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