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Syrian Kurds: Time to Assert Their Rights
28.3.2012
By Alon Ben-Meir
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The Huffington Post |
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March
28, 2012
Regardless of what may come out of Kofi Annan's
peace plan to end the internal conflict in Syria,
and whatever may emerge from the Arab League meeting
this week in Baghdad, the prospect of Assad's fall
offers the Kurdish minority in Syria a historic
opportunity to gain equal political and civil
rights. Given the totalitarian nature of Baathist
rule under Assad, the regime's fall in Syria will
take the entire system of government down with it,
much like Saddam's Iraq in 2003. But unlike Iraq's
Kurds who have enjoyed virtual autonomy since 1991
when the United States enforced a no-fly zone over
northern Iraq, Syria's Kurds are less organized and
more divided. Syrian Kurds need to close ranks,
fully join the Syrian people in pursuit of freedom,
and not allow this historic window of opportunity to
slip away.
Unless it wishes to preside over a divided Syria
where the Kurds could contribute to prolonged
instability, any elected government emerging in the
post-Assad Syria must commit itself to the equality
of all Syrian citizens, regardless of their ethnic
background. The Kurdish nation constitutes a
population of more than 40 million people, the
majority of whom live on a contiguous landmass that
includes Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria. The Kurds are
the world's largest minority group that remains
stateless. The nearly century-old denial of equal
political and civil rights for Kurds in these four
countries has been a contentious issue with all
Kurdish minorities ever since the Kurdish territory
was divided after World War I between Iraq, Iran,
Turkey and Syria, with the sole exception of the
short-lived Kingdom of Kurdistan from September 1922
to July 1924 when the Kurds enjoyed political
independence. Although in all host countries the
Kurds are discriminated against in varying degrees,
their living conditions in Syria are even worse as
many are denied citizenship, land ownership and even
the freedom of movement within the country.
To fully gain from the popular revolt and achieve
equal rights with the rest of the Syrian people,
Syria's Kurds need to take five central steps and
remain consistent and unwavering, regardless of how
treacherous the road to freedom may be.
First, they must organize themselves and develop a
coherent agenda, which they can use to advance from
the early stages of the revolution, until President
Assad is deposed and the country moves toward a
clear reform. The Syrian Kurds need to assert
themselves as an integral part of the Syrian
population and identify with the Syrian people's
just and non-violent struggle to remove the regime
and elect a government committed to the universal
values of freedom, human rights and democracy. The
Syrian Kurds should not, at this juncture, seek
either the establishment of a federal system or
strive for an autonomous region. Instead, they
should commit themselves to Syria's unity and its
constitutional laws, which will be
collectively-enacted by a new parliament.
Second, rival Kurdish groups must end their deep
divisions and present a unified approach if they
want to be recognized and dealt with seriously. The
Kurdistan Democratic Party of Syria (KDPS) supports
the removal of the Assad regime while the Democratic
Union Party (PYD), which has close ties to Turkey's
PKK, is concerned that Assad's removal will lead to
the dominance of the Turkish-supported Muslim
Brotherhood which would maintain the same anti-Kurd
policy. The Assad regime is currently exploiting the
Kurdish division by allowing the PYD leadership to
return from exile while permitting it to open
Kurdish language schools,www.ekurd.net
cultural centers, and party offices in Syrian
cities. The success of the Syrian Kurds in achieving
true equality will ultimately depend on their
ability to unite, and remain united, throughout the
revolutionary process. PYD leadership must be
reminded that its pro-Assad approach is a losing
strategy in either case: if the regime survives,
albeit unlikely, it will not hesitate to revoke all
of the concessions it has made in time of crisis,
and if the regime falls, which is more likely, the
new government will probably settle the account (for
supporting Assad) with the PYD and the Kurds.
Third, the leadership of the Kurds must demand and
insist on proportional representation within the
Syrian National Council (SNC). Currently there is
only one delegate, which is hardly representative of
the size of the Kurdish community in Syria, a
community that constitutes 10-12 percent of Syria's
total population (or almost two million people).
While KDPS, the SNC's main Kurdish component, should
work harder to convince other reluctant parties,
particularly the PYD, to join forces, the SNC should
be aware that it could also significantly benefit
from a broader Kurdish representation if it wants to
be seriously representative of the Syrian people and
its political, ethnic, and religious mosaic.
Shortchanging the Kurds will undoubtedly raise
serious concerns among other minorities within the
country such as the Armenians, the Druze, and other
groups, that will fear similar marginalization
within the new Syria.
Fourth, the Kurdish leadership should approach their
relationship with Turkey with caution. Since the SNC
is headquartered in Istanbul, it is certainly
influenced by the Erdogan government, which does not
want, for obvious reasons, to encourage federal or
autonomous solutions for the Kurds. Syria's Kurds
have every reason to question Turkey's intentions
because Ankara clearly wants to see the Muslim
Brotherhood, with which it has a close affinity, in
power in Damascus. Moreover, the Kurds do not rule
out a possible Turkish military intervention in
Syria to ensure stability. Such an intervention will
still be used to solidify the dominance of the MB.
Nevertheless, the Syrian Kurdish leadership should
cooperate and enhance its relations with Turkey not
only because it is premature for Syria's divided
Kurds to challenge Turkey's plan but also because
the Kurds' sole other option is anathema: an Assad
regime that is closer than ever to Iran.
Finally, the Syrian Kurds should learn from, and ask
for the support of, their brethren, the Iraqi Kurds,
who benefited greatly from the fall of Saddam
Hussein and are currently running the Kurdistan
region as a prosperous island of stability within a
conflict-torn Iraq. Since affinity between the Kurds
(regardless of their country of residence) is
stronger than the affinity to their separate host
states, Iraq's Kurdistan Region is a natural ally
and is freer to help the Kurds' cause in Syria in
contrast to the Iraqi government, which tacitly
supports Assad. Syria's Kurds can benefit from their
Iraqi brethren in experience, ranging from the
reconciliation between the rivaling Talabani-faction
Patriotic Union of Kurdistan party and
Barzani-faction Kurdistan Democratic Party, to the
gradual, peaceful approach to achieving autonomy
within a nation state should the effort to attain
full integration fail.
In conclusion, it is time for Syria's Kurds to close
ranks and join the Syrian people's march for freedom
and demand their own basic rights from a future
Syrian government, which they themselves must help
shape. The Arab revolutions are as historically
exceptional and unparalleled as the victory of the
Kurd-turned-Arab Saladin over the European Crusaders
in the twelfth century, and this time, too, Arabs
and the Kurds can join forces to defeat injustice
that has plagued them from within.
Follow Alon Ben-Meir on Twitter:
www.twitter.com/AlonBenMeir.
Alon Ben-Meir, a Professor and negotiator on
Middle East affairs and politics. Seeking Peace. RT
doesn't imply endorsement. You can find his website
at: www.alonben-meir.com
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