Protests against Assad in Syrian Kurdish region
Protests against Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad erupted on Friday in the Kurdish regions of Syria (Hat Tip: Joshua I). Protests against Baath Party rule erupted in Kurdish regions of eastern Syria on Friday, Kurdish activists said, a day after President Bashar al-Assad offered Syrian nationality to some Kurds. The grant of citizenship on Thursday to an unspecified number of Kurds is seen as part of a government attempt to cool resentment over nearly five decades of Baath Party rule and deflect pro-democracy protests.I don't get this. Maybe someone who knows a bit more about Kurdistan than I do can explain.
"The citizenship gesture only helped fuel the street (protests). The Kurdish cause is one for democracy, freedom and cultural identity," Hassan Kamel, a senior member of the Democratic Kurdish Party in Syria, told Reuters.
Activists and witnesses said thousands of mostly young Kurds marched in the northeastern city of Qamishli on Friday chanting: "No Kurd, no Arab, the Syrian people are one."
"We salute the martyrs of Deraa," they also chanted in reference to the Arab Sunni city where protests erupted against Assad's rule three weeks ago before spreading across Syria.
The demonstrators also demanded freedom for thousands of political prisoners, many of them Kurds.
"Kurds are part of the Syrian people. They will not stop the struggle with their Arab brethren against the regime to lift emergency law for good. They will not be fooled by the so-called terrorism law in the making," said Massoud Akko, a Kurdish activist in exile in Norway.
Akko said the Kurdish street will not calm down until Syria as a whole enjoyed freedom of speech and assembly and the Baath Party monopoly of power was ended.
I always thought that the Kurdish goal was to have a state of Kurdistan consisting of Kurdish areas of what is now Syria, Iran, Iraq and Turkey.
This article makes it sound otherwise. Can someone please explain?
Labels: Bashar al-Assad, Syrian Kurds, Syrian regime change
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 9:18 PM
5 Comments:
Carl's question: "Can someone please explain?" ---- From the article: "... a senior member of the Democratic Kurdish Party in Syria, told Reuters." ------------ The article is sourced through Reuters, do you need any more explanation?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurds_in_Syria
The Syrian government has moved the Kurds around and resettled them in large urban population centers. Younger Syrian Kurds do not identify with greater Kurdistan. Their national identity is Syrian.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurds_in_Syria
The Syrian government moved the Kurds around, away from traditional Kurdistan into large urban population centers. Younger Kurds' national identity is Syrian. Their cultural identity is Kurdish.
I believe that the previous commenter is horribly wrong. Kurds have always wanted independence and they still do. What is happening in Syria is a diplomatic gesture by the Kurds to first gain their rights and also to be identified and recognized in the Syrian constitution as Kurds, then the next step will come for them to ask for, let's say, federalism, and from there; total independence. Demanding independence now would be political suicide because the government easily will consider them "conspirators" and will crush them and turn them into the culprits behind the recent developments. This happened in 2004 when the Kurds took to the streets and dozens of them were massacred, not a single Arabic organization, institution, political party...etc defended them. So the Kurds are not planning to make the same mistake. Now they play by the rules of "Unity and Diversity", but the ultimate and unchangeable and rightful demand and goal still stands firm, which is total independence.
I read it more as "We're proud Kurds. Our loyalty will not be bought off by phoney citizenship offers. We still seek a separate Kurdish state."
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