Syrian government praises decentralization and promotes northeast Syria’s separation: politicians
DAMASCUS, Syria (North Press) – Politicians saw that the Syrian government media propagates, from time to time, speech implying that the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) are seeking to separate and form an entity independent of Syria, through their dealings with the US, and the government officials use the same rhetoric inside and outside the country.
Insiders believe that the policy of “sectarian and racist discrimination” practiced by the Syrian government is no longer effective after ten years of conflict.
The Kurds in Syria make up about 10% of the population, and they mainly live in the northern and eastern regions of the country.
Exclusionary policy
“Everything in Syria is politicized and sectarian, from the formation of the People’s Assembly to the smallest local council in any Syrian town,” a former member of the People’s Assembly, residing in Damascus, who refused to be named, told North Press.
“The Jazira region has been subjected to many exclusionary and abolitionist policies over many years, and has been deprived of its most basic rights to freely practice its own rituals,” he added.
He stated that the AANES has become a fait accompli, and the Syrian government, which praises administrative decentralization, must accept.
He pointed out that the events of March 2004 marked a major turning point in the relations between the Syrian Kurds and the authorities.
The Kurds have suffered from the Syrian government’s policy of “marginalization, discrimination, and promotion of Arab nationalism,” according to the People’s Assembly former member.
Accusations of “treason”
Earlier, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates of the Syrian government, Faisal Mekdad, accused the SDF of being “armed groups that betrayed their homeland and committed crimes against it.”
“We will not accept any dialogue or talk with those who have mortgaged themselves to foreign powers. US agents will not have any foothold on Syrian soil,” he said in a press statement.
“The Syrian government’s reading of the developments is wrong, and the discourse of treason does not feed bread and it no longer works for people today,” a human rights defender from Damascus, who refused to be named, told North Press.
“The Syrian government is still betting on changing the US position towards the AANES in its favor, in order to reset the region’s conditions as it wants,” he added.
Historical marginalization
A Kurdish journalist, residing in Damascus, said that for many years, Syria had committed to a policy of increasing repression against the Kurds. This repression is part of the Syrian government’s wider repression of any form of political opposition.
In an interview with North Press, he believed that the Syrian government “has pursued a policy of suppressing the Kurdish identity, because it sees it as a threat to the unity of Arabic Syria, by restricting the use of the Kurdish language in public, in schools or in the workplace, prohibiting publications in the Kurdish language, and prohibiting celebrations on Kurdish holidays.
“The future of the Syrian Kurds is organically linked to the future of Syria, as a country that needs to redefine its religious, national and ethnic diversity in its public cultural space,” he added.