Qamishli – North-Press Agency
Muhammad Habash
On the 16th anniversary of the March 12 Uprising on Thursday, leaders of Kurdish political parties said the Syrian government has still not changed its denialist approach regarding the recognition of the Kurdish existence on its historical land in Syria.
In 2004, Kurdish-majority territories in northeastern Syria and Kurdish neighborhoods in Aleppo and Damascus witnessed massive popular protests, which later came to be known as the ‘March 12 Uprising’, which began after a football match between al-Jihad Qamishli Club and al-Fotuwa Deir ez-Zor Club in Qamishli stadium.
"It taught a lesson"
The Secretary of the Kurdish Democratic Party in Syria (al-Party), Nassraddin Ibrahim, said: "The March 12 Uprising was a great turning point in the history of the national liberation for the Kurdish people in Syria, as the Kurdish political movement in Syria moved from its form and style linked to the political organizations to a majestic popular status.”
In a statement to North-Press, Ibrahim said: "The uprising has taught a lesson to everyone and sent a message to all, which was the will of the Kurdish people has not and will not be defeated by the machine of the national oppression and persecution of the Kurds.”
The incidents took place when hand-to-hand clashes between the fans of the two football teams began after fans of al-Fotuwa Club threw stones at supporters of al-Jihad. The interference of Syrian regime security forces and their use of live bullets against the fans of al-Jihad Club intensified the conflict.
Next morning, on March 12, 2004, tens of thousands of people from the city of Qamishli and the surrounding villages flocked to the city for the funerals of the victims, where they developed into massive demonstrations in the streets. This was met with live bullets by Syrian security forces, and armored vehicles entered the main streets, according to eyewitnesses and videos.
The incidents that day resulted in the martyrdom of more than 30 people, in addition to dozens of injuries, as the protests reached most cities and towns of al-Jazira region and Kurdish neighborhoods in Aleppo and Damascus, during which the Syrian security forces arrested more than 2,000 people, according to Kurdish human rights organizations.
Gharib Hesso, a prominent leader in the Movement for a Democratic Society (TEV-DEM), a left-wing bloc in northern Syria founded in 2011 with the goal of organizing the Syrian society under a democratic confederalist system, said that, "The March 12 Uprising exceeded the political organizations and broke through the fear created by al-Ba'ath Party's killing mechanisms which had been used against the Kurdish people for several decades.
"The uprising forced the Syrian government to yield to the Kurdish will after international media outlets circulated the news about the violence of Syrian security forces against the Kurds; the matter forced al-Ba'ath Party to recognize the Kurdish presence, even this hasn't exceeded press statements,” he added.
For his part, the member of the presidency body of the Syrian Kurdish National Council (ENKS), Faysal Youssef, said: "The chauvinism has only left a place but politicized it against the Kurdish people, even in sports, as the March 12 uprising was a response to the authoritarian practices against the Kurdish people.”
Youssef believes that, "The people's protest in the middle of Damascus, was waving to the start of a qualitative Syrian revolution, in which the Kurdish demand was a national one to confront the one-party and the dictatorial regime.”
Syrian revolution…. But
Public affairs observers see that, because the Kurdish Uprising, did not get support from the Syrian opposition parties at the time, it took on a nationalist character, which led to continuous arrests of the protestors by security forces in raiding campaigns which lasted for 6 days.
"There was not any real opposition at the time, as the regime did not allow that, and the existing opposition was just blocs of the Muslim Brotherhood, which had the same mentality of al-Ba'ath Party, as they were supporting the security apparatus in putting down the uprising by accusing the protestors of linkage to Israel,” Gharib Hesso said, commenting on this issue.
While Nassraddin Ibrahim said that, "The uprising took its nationalist character because it did not get support from the opposition forces, we hoped to be characterized with a national character, too, but this was not achieved for several reasons, especially because the security apparatus tried to convey what had happened as sabotage planned by hostile parties against Syria.
For his part, Faysal Youssef said that, "Unfortunately, the March 12 uprising was not the spark for a Syrian revolution all over the country, where the opposition parties also took on a nationalist approach.
"The Kurdish demand was a Syrian national one, and it was supposed to be supported by the opposition at the time, but they later changed their minds and learned a lesson from the experience of the Kurdish people, and the Damascus Declaration (a group of opposition figures which criticized the government for being authoritarian and called for peaceful and gradual reforms) was formed after that,” he added.
"The regime has not changed its approach"
Although 16 years have passed since those bloody incidents, followed by an ongoing war since 2011, observers and Kurdish politicians see that, the Syrian government is still continuing its repressive and denialist approach.
Those figures say that, the Syrian regime has not changed its approach regarding the Kurds. This was clear after Syrian president Bashar al-Assad's recent statements to the Russian 24 TV channel, where he denied the existence of a Kurdish Question in Syria, considering the Kurds as "migrants" and non-Syrians.
Gharib Hesso, said: "The uprising forced Bashar al-Assad and the Syrian government to state that the Kurdish people are part of the Syrian people, but now, he says that, the Kurds are non-Syrians. This is strange, isn't he the same president?! This is a denial of the Kurdish people who preserved the unity of the Syrian territories.”
Nassraddin Ibrahim said that, "after the clashes between Syrian and Turkish forces in Idlib and the Russian mediation for rapprochement, the Syrian government was quick to send signs to Turkey regarding their similarities in the hostility towards the Kurds, which in its essence is outright denial of the Kurds' existence.”
Faysal Youssef agreed with the views of his predecessors regarding the continuation of the Syrian government's denialist policy towards the Kurds in Syria.
"Al-Ba'ath Party aims to erase of the existence of a Kurdish Question in Syria through projects targeting their existence,” he added.