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45 the RESURRECTION of SYRIAN KURDISH POLITICS by Ro THE RESURRECTION OF SYRIAN KURDISH POLITICS By Rodi Hevian* This article examines the current political landscape of the Kurdish region in Syria, the role the Kurds have played in the ongoing Syrian civil war, and intra-Kurdish relations. For many years, the Kurds in Syria were Iraqi Kurdistan to Afrin in the northwest on subjected to discrimination at the hands of the the Turkish border. This article examines the Ba’th regime and were stripped of their basic current political landscape of the Kurdish rights.1 During the 1960s and 1970s, some region in Syria, the role the Kurds have played Syrian Kurds were deprived of citizenship, in the ongoing conflict, and intra-Kurdish leaving them with no legal status in the relations. country.2 Although Syria was a key player in the modern Kurdish struggle against Turkey and Iraq, its policies toward the Kurds there THE KURDS IN SYRIA were in many cases worse than those in the neighboring countries. On the one hand, the It is estimated that there are some 3 million Asad regime provided safe haven for the Kurds in Syria, constituting 13 percent of Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the Syria’s 23 million inhabitants. They mostly Kurdish movements in Iraq fighting Saddam’s occupy the northern part of the country, a regime. On the other hand, it cracked down on region that borders with Iraqi Kurdistan to the its own Kurds in the northern part of the east and Turkey to the north and west. There country. Kurdish parties, Kurdish language, are also some major districts in Aleppo and Kurdish culture and Kurdish names were Damascus that are populated by the Kurds. illegal,3 and those who dared to challenge this These include the Ashrafiya and Shaykh were prosecuted, jailed, tortured, or forced to Maqsoud districts in Aleppo as well as the leave the country. Hay Akrad and Rukn al-Din districts in However, the ongoing civil war in the Damascus.4 The Kurds in Syria speak the country between Alawites and Sunnis, which Kurmanji dialect of Kurdish, which is the began in March 2011, has presented an most widely-spoken dialect in Kurdistan. As a opportunity to the Kurds. The unexpected war result of its Arabization policies during the has led to a Kurdish-ruled enclave in northeast 1960s and 1970s, the Ba’th regime created the Syria. This has, in turn, led to the so-called Arab-belt from the Jazira region in reorganization of Kurdish parties, which for the northeast of Syria to the northern Kurdish many years operated clandestinely. Kurdish city of Kobani in an attempt to break the cultural centers and language schools have contiguity of the Kurdish region. The regime mushroomed across the region while succeeded, establishing a strip populated only forbidden Kurdish names are being used again by Arabs and forcing tens of thousands of from Derik in the northeast on the border with Kurds to leave.5 Middle East Review of International Affairs, Vol. 17, No. 3 (Fall 2013) 45 Rodi Hevian Map of Kurdish-Populated Areas in Northern Syria Credit: Institute for the Study of War KURDISH POLITICAL MOVEMENTS adversarial policies with Turkey in light of the Alexandretta (Hatay) issue from 1939.8 The history of the Kurdish movements in Nonetheless, the Syria Ba’th regime’s “enemy Syria dates back to the late 1950s, when the of my enemy is my friend” approach became a first Kurdish political party, the Kurdistan lifeline for the PKK, enabling it operate for Democratic Party in Syria, was established by nearly two decades in Syria. However, in late a group of prominent Kurds who had fled to 1998, due to mounting international pressure, Syria from Turkey after failed uprisings the Syrian regime forced PKK leader Abdullah together with some leading Kurds in Syria.6 Ocalan to leave the country. This led to The KDPS was founded as an arm of the Ocalan’s capture, and he was soon handed Kurdistan Democratic Party in Iraq, then led over to and imprisoned by Turkey.9 by the legendary Kurdish leader Mustafa Barzani, in an attempt to organize all parts of THE CURRENT LANDSCAPE the Kurdish regions under one strong and influential movement. Kurdish politics in the Kurdish region of However, in the years that followed, Syria is now dominated by two major blocs: Barzani’s goal to unite the Kurds under one the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) political umbrella fell short. This was due to and Kurdish National Council (KNC).10 The the Ba’th regime’s brutality against and PYD is an offshoot of Kurdistan Workers’ intolerance of the existence of the Kurds in Party (PKK), whereas the KNC is comprised Syria as well as internal disagreements among of 16 different Kurdish parties under the the party’s leadership. From the time the Ba’th influence of the Kurdistan regional regime came into power and until the onset of government (KRG) in Iraq (led by Masoud the ongoing Syrian civil war, all Kurdish Barzani’s Kurdistan Democratic Party and parties operated underground, with their Jalal Talabani’s Patriotic Union of leaders facing long prison sentences if caught.7 Kurdistan).11 There are some additional minor The Ba’th regime’s support for the PKK (the parties, such as the Kurdish Future Movement Kurdish militant group fighting Turkey) in the founded by Kurdish activist Meshaal Tammo-- 1980s and 1990s was paradoxical; its support who was later murdered--acting with the was not due to its love for the Kurds in Syrian National Council.12 The PKK-affiliated Turkey, but rather was the result of its PYD is the strongest of the Syrian Kurdish 46 Middle East Review of International Affairs, Vol. 17, No. 3 (Fall 2013) The Resurrection of Syrian Kurdish Politics parties.13 Although the KNC is a coalition of (SNC) and even attended some major more than a dozen Kurdish parties, it wields meetings held in Istanbul, its demands for no real power in the region. It lacks, above all, autonomy and national rights have not been the military force and other necessary means met. Thus, it left the SNC shortly after its in this regard to counter the well-organized establishment. PYD.14 On August 28, 2013, the Arabic language newspaper al-Hayat reported that the Syrian THE KURDISH NATIONAL COUNCIL National Coalition, led by Ahmad al-Jarba, (KNC) and the Kurdish National Council (KNC), led by Abd al-Hakim Bashar, signed an agreement The Kurdish National Council (KNC) was making Bashar vice president of the Syrian established in October 2011 in Iraqi Kurdistan National Coalition.18 However, Kurdish by 11 different Kurdish parties,15 as a Democratic Union Party (PYD) leader Salih replication of the Istanbul-based Syrian Muslim told al-Hayat that he did not National Council (SNC). While most of the recognize any agreement that was not signed parties that make up the KNC are over a half a with the Kurdish Supreme Committee19 (the century old, at the operational level, they have highest decision-making body in Syrian been rather weak or ineffective.16 The KNC is Kurdistan, according to the July 2012 Erbil chaired by Abd al-Hakim Bashar, who is at the Agreement signed by the PYD-led People’s same time the leader of Kurdistan Democratic Assembly of Western Kurdistan and the Party in Syria, which is the strongest member KDPS-led Kurdish National Council).20 party of the KNC. Almost all of the parties According to the report, a 16-article under the KNC umbrella are based in the agreement was signed between the Kurdish Kurdish region of Iraq, making them unable to National Council and the Syrian National influence or change the course of Council. The agreement included developments on the ground in Syria. constitutional recognition of the Kurds as well According to the Carnegie Middle East as the name of the “Syrian Arab Republic” Center, the KNC has 16 member parties; being changed to the “Syrian Republic.” In however, there also exist some deep cleavages addition, 11 KNC members would be included among them. For example, the PUK-affiliated in the National Coalition’s 114-member members of the KNC--like the Kurdistan general commission while 3 KNC members Democratic Progressive Party led by Hamid would join the 19-member political Darwish as well as left-oriented parties such as commission.21 the Kurdish Democratic Leftist Party headed by Muhammad Mousa and the Syrian MEMBERS OF THE KURDISH Democratic Kurdish party led by Shaykh NATIONAL COUNCIL (KNC) Jamal--are close to the PYD. According to some reports from the region, they also The Kurdistan Democratic Party in Syria cooperate with the PYD on the ground and (KDPS) send their men to join the PYD’s fighting 17 force, the YPG. The Kurdistan Democratic Party in Syria The KNC’s main goal was to unite the (KDPS) is among the many offshoots of the Kurdish parties and to organize a struggle 1957 Kurdish Democratic Party in Syria. The against the Syrian regime in the Kurdish party was established by Osman Sabri and region. Nevertheless, it faced challenges from Nuraddin Zaza--two prominent Kurds who the PKK-affiliated Democratic Union Party escaped from Turkey to Syria following the (PYD). The PYD refused to join the KNC and failed rebellions of the 1920s and 1930s--as acted independently from the beginning of the well as Hamid Darwish, Hamzah Diweran, uprising in Syria. Although the KNC and other important Kurds in Syria.22 attempted to join the Syrian National Council The KDPS claims to be the successor of the Middle East Review of International Affairs, Vol.
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