Qamishli – North-Press Agency
Alan Hassan
There is no one interested or a follower of the Kurdish question in general and the Syrian one in particular, unless he is forced to face a fundamental question regarding the injustice of the Kurds for decades, and the ways to remove it from them, and the question is about the extent of the authenticity of the Kurdish belonging to the Syrian state, and do they seek to remove that injustice on themselves through reaching a citizenship state which doesn't distinguish between its citizens on the basis of race or religion, or do they use injustice as an excuse to separate from the country, and to serve external agendas that want to divide the region.
The answer to this question doesn't seem to be difficult for the one who wants to be objective and decorate matters with mental standards, but not to rule them with logic of passions and prejudices which aren't based on evidence agree with. There are no reliable Kurdish calls for separation so that there would be a reason to refute the idea that they are separatists, but it must be returned to the roots of this accusation, and all that could surround this issue that has afflicted the Syrians for decades.
Syrian Kurds lived throughout the life of the Syrian state seeking full citizenship, and participated in the liberation revolutions during the French Mandate until the moment of the leaving of the last French soldier on April 17, 1946.
They also participated in the political life on a large scale, and contributed to the establishment of the Syrian state, as a number of Kurds received high positions in the country reaching the position of President of the Republic, and established the first Syrian Kurdish party in 1957 in the name of the Kurdish Democratic Party in Syria.
However, after the Syrian-Egyptian unity in 1958, the then President of the United Arab Republic, Jamal Abdel Nasser issued a decision to dissolve all parties, and since then, the newborn Kurdish party has been forced into secret political action.
Political repression was perpetuated in Syria through the one-party policy after the Arab Socialist Baath Party came into power during the March 8 coup of 1963, and the Syrian Kurdish situation was no exception to this, as the party prevented any actual presence of other parties in the Syrian political scene, except those which agreed to turn in its orbit, and consequently, it abolished the actual political life in the country, in addition to the harsh Syrian Kurdish problem, which is refraining from giving the Syrian citizenship to hundreds of thousands of Kurds.
The issue of those who were deprived of the Syrian nationality had begun at the exceptional population census which was conducted by the Syrian government in 1962, during the reign of former President Nazem al-Qudsi, and the following Baath governments didn't lift a finger toward this issue, until the demonstrations began to circulate in the Syrian cities in the spring of 2011, and at that time the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad issued a decree granting the Syrian citizenship to those who were registered in the official records under the name of foreigners of Hasakah governorate, and ignored a large segment of those who don't have any official documents, and those who were called to be registered as bound.
Security dealing with the Kurdish file was one of the reasons which worsened the Kurdish issue in Syria. The Kurdish civil uprising in 2004, following the events of Qamishli, was the most prominent event in which the Syrian citizenship faced. The United States' toppling of the regime of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein in 2003, and forming the Kurdistan Regional Government increased the Syrian government's fears of a similar U.S. support for the Kurds in Syria, and this made it to use excessive violence against the Kurds following a football match between al-Jihad club from Qamishli and al-Fotuwa club from Deir ez-Zor, as more than 30 people were victims of these events, in addition to hundreds of detainees.
Kurdish demands until 2011 never exceeded cultural rights, and the Syrian government confronted them with habitual denial, and solidified the idea that the Kurds are nothing but immigrants to the Syrian state, and that they only have to act according to the logic of the emergency guest.
The relationship between the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the United States during the Islamic State’s control over most of Kobani region in 2014 was one of the issues which has accentuated the accusations leveled against the Kurds that they are part of a partition plan for the region. Despite the objective circumstances which contributed to that alliance. However, it became clear that there were no positive political results for it, as it remained only confined to the military side, and the file of northeastern Syria remained open to regional and international policy bazaars by the U.S., and the last of which was the American green light for the Turkish military invasion with its affiliated armed groups in the areas of Gre Spi (Tal Abyad) and Seree-Kaniye (Ras al-Ain).
Since its establishment in early 2014, the Autonomous Administration of north-eastern Syria project has not called for separation from Syria, but rather it was forced to confront the Turkish military and its affiliated Syrian armed opposition groups – militarily and securely – which are serving only Ankara's agendas.
The intended confusion by the Syrian authorities between the Syrian nationalism and the loyalty for the government is what makes it difficult to find a solution for the Kurdish issue and the problem of the people of Syria in general. Many components in north-eastern Syria share the Kurds with their fears of an authoritarian mentality which the Syrian government is still practicing, and therefore they want to compel all parties to uphold the Syrian patriotism over everything else, and thus returning Syria to all Syrians, not that all Syrian components melt into a single national societal fabric, where the Syrian patriotism is superior.
In-depth negotiations between the Autonomous Administration and the Syrian government are the most effective way to remove the fears of the two sides, and it is the safest way to end this file on the basis of "no winner or loser", so there is no winner in any war between the sons of one country, as defeat is in a war between two hostile parties, and in the case of Syrian Kurds it is certainly not like this, but rather constitutional rights that should have been acquired decades ago, as it is a strengthening factor for the country, not a weakening point at all.