| 20 | february 5, 2014 greenleft.org.au INTERNATIONAL

Syria fight for self- determination amid civil war

Salih Muslim is co-president As I told you, the regime never of the Democratic Union disappeared. The situation in Party (PYD), a -based the city of is very Kurdish party fighting for complex. As well as the airport, self-determination. The PYD some Arab districts of the city is a sister party of the left- are under regime control. wing Turkish-based Kurdistan There is an Arab tribe in Workers Party (PKK). The party Qamishli called Tai, with about is the ruling force in the Kurdish 35,000 members, who are all areas of Syria and took over still supporting the regime. In three enclaves with Kurdish their parts of the town, the majorities in 2012. regime is still present. We do The PYD is part of the not control their districts. The National Coordination Body Baath Party rally was in their for Democratic Change quarter. (NBC), an alliance of left-wing Our main goal is to prevent opposition groups including ethnic conflict. We believe in the the PYD, 12 smaller (mainly brotherhood between peoples. ) parties and independent We don’t want fights between political activists. It has the Kurds and Arabs. And because position of negotiating with the we don’t want to fight with ruling regime of Bashar al- the Tai tribe, the situation in Assad. Qamishli is complicated. This position is strongly We wish to prevent a situation criticised by other parts of the like in Sere Kaniye, where , in particular we had a war in that city. To Islamic groups that accuse it prevent that, we have to find a of being a front for the regime. form of co-existence with the The NBC favours non-violent Arab tribes. resistance against the regime. The situation in al-Hasaka is It also strongly opposes Syrian Kurds protest last year for self-determination in the face of the . even more difficult. We control any international military the Kurdish quarters, a part of intervention. We really do not want to rule in Syria. How did the regime the model of self-rule could be the Arab quarter is controlled In an interview with Austria- alone and we are preparing for react? a model for the whole Middle by the regime and a part by the based political scientist Thomas elections in the areas of our East. Decentralised self-rule Islamist opposition. In such Schmidinger, Salih Muslim control. We want other parties There were different reactions could be model for all of us. a situation, we can only try speaks about the project of to join us. In fact both Kurdish from the side of the regime. to prevent fighting inside the Kurdish self-rule in Syria amid councils, the Kurdish National But let me also talk about the About 500,000 internally cities. the civil war between the Council [an alliance of most of opposition. Both the regime displaced persons from all Assad regime and opposition. the non-PYD Kurdish parties of and many parts of the so-called over Syria are at the moment In Qamishli and in most of A longer version can be read at Syria, some with close relations opposition accuse us of being in Rojava (Syrian Kurdistan). the towns of the east of Syrian Links International Journal of to the Kurdish parties in Iraq] separatists. Both do not want What is the situation for these Kurdistan there are also many Socialist Renewal. and the People’s Council of to give us our right to self-rule. IDPs from regions destroyed by Syrian-Aramaic and Armenian West Kurdistan [the PYD’s self- So we have to fight for it against the civil war? Christians. Who controls their H H H rule structures] agreed to do it both the regime and the armed quarters? that way. opposition. The lack of diesel fuel has What does your party fight for? There is a committee for the From the start, we been solved. People are The Christians are on our side. preparation of elections. The coordinated with the secular using diesel for heat and last Their quarters are defended We struggle for democratic electoral law should be ready left-wing opposition. We winter they did not have any. by our soldiers. There are also self-rule within Syria, which is soon. So we hope that we can established the NBC and we But concerning food and Christians fighting with us. a specific sort of autonomy. We vote soon. want to cooperate with these other important supplies, In Rojava, there is no conflict want democratic rights and a opposition forces who accept the situation is still very between Muslim Kurds and constitutional recognition of the In the past months there have our demands, but not with problematic. It is already Christians. Kurds. been heavy conflicts between the Islamists and other anti- difficult for people living in our We do not want to split from your party and some other democratic forces. areas and it is much harder for What about other Kurdish Syria and we do not want a Kurdish parties, especially the the refugees. parties? In the past few months, Kurdish nation state. We also Azadi Party and the Kurdistan Could you imagine Assad There is still no international some of the other Kurdish presented that concept to the Democratic Party of Syria (the staying in power? help at all. The big NGOs groups criticised the PYD for NBC and the Arab parties there sister party of the ruling party are not present at all and the installing an authoritarian agreed with us on that. in Iraqi Kurdistan). Will these We have always said Assad International Red Cross is regime and for cooperating with But you know, nothing is parties take part in elections? has to leave. This is still our cooperating with the Syrian Assad. settled and if you talk about position. We want a negotiated Red Crescent. But the Syrian autonomy each country has Some parties cooperate with peace but we can’t imagine that Red Crescent is an Arab These are the same accusations different forms of autonomies us, but these two parties don’t. he stays in power. organisation cooperating with we hear from Turkey and the and federal systems. There are They are welcome to run in the We really need an end of the the regime, not with us. Islamist groups. I want to insist different models and we will elections, but until now they regime and a new democratic The regime did not completely that the Asiash and the YPG see what model works best for refuse to. start. But it is not only a withdraw from Rojava. It still are not the armed forces of our Syria. They always attack and personal question of Assad. The controls the Qamishli airport. party, but of the Kurdish self- We want to rule ourselves. criticise us. They say the problem is not the person, but If the Syrian Red Crescent rule. The name is not important, but militias of the PYD are doing the regime. has anything to offer, they are Our enemies always present it should be according to human this and that, but they do not Now there are many Alawis working with the officials from stories that it is the fault of our rights and democracy. realise that these are not our who fear that they could the regime, not us. party if somebody gets arrested. We have managed self-rule militias. They are the Kurdish become victims of vengeance If some criminal gets arrested, for more than one year now and militias. if Assad leaves. So it is a much In the past few months, the they always accuse the PYD of we still have a lot of difficulties. Yes, our party founded the larger problem now. So we regime’s presence in the capital, kidnapping him. So many of We are under pressure from a Asiash [Kurdish security forces] have to negotiate to stop the Rojava, has definitely become these stories are told by Kurdish lot of different forces. It is also and the People’s Defence Forces bloodshed and change the stronger. On November 14, parties who are cooperating a problem that everybody says [YPG, Kurdish army] because system. supporters of Assad’s Baath with Turkey or with Massoud that the “PYD is doing this and we realised it was needed. But Party held a protest in Qamishli Barzani [president of the that”, but we are not ruling that does not mean they are Could the idea of a regional and shouted their slogan: “We Kurdistan region of Iraq]. alone. forces of our political party. We self-rule also be a model for sacrifice our blood and our soul If these parties organise want a single armed force of the other minorities in Syria, the for you Bashar.” The regime’s peaceful protests, and if they Until now there are no Kurds and we reject the idea of Alawis for example? security forces have returned. give the Asiash the information democratically legitimised party militias. They have arrested several in advance where they want to structures in the region of The Alawis are a different case Kurdish activists. Who controls demonstrate, we assure you that Kurdish self-rule. Will there be In November, you officially because they are a religious the capital, the Kurds or the they definitely have the right for elections soon? declared self-rule of the Kurds and not an ethnic group. But regime? peaceful protests. n