(AINA) -- The Kurdish Democratic Party (PYD), a branch of
Partiya Karkerên Kurdistan (PKK), recently declared that they want to form a
Kurdish autonomy in northern Syria. The area in Syria called al-Jazeera is now
called Rojava in Kurdish media. At first I thought it was the name of a Kurdish
village outside Qamishle, but a friend explained that Rojava means the
"West" in Kurdish and the Kurds see it as the western part of
"Kurdistan." If such autonomy becomes a reality, is there any place
for Assyrians? Is there room in a future ruled by Kurds, considering what
happened in northern Iraq?
Analysts I talked to are optimistic and see a difference
from the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in north Iraq. Assyrians make up
about 30% of al-Jazeera's population and should have better conditions, they
say. But the biggest threat to Assyrians is emigration, since many are fleeing
to seek a better life in the West.
The city of Qamishle, in northeast Syria, was formed
shortly after the 1915 genocide of Assyrians by Turks and Kurds. My
great-grandmother, who died in 1978, used to tell us that she had seen with her
own eyes when Qamishle consisted of only three households, one of which
belonged to our cousins, the Haddad family. The young brothers Yusuf and Davud
Haddad were smiths who had survived the genocide. Their father Elyas, a member
of Nisibins city council, was beheaded in 1915 along with his wife, family and
other Assyrians in Nisibin. His children, two sons and a daughter, he had left
in safe custody with an Arab family. These young people then built the third
house in Qamishle in the 1920s.
Assyrians who fled from Tur Abdin, Turkey after the
genocide settled in Qamishle, which became a French mandate until 1946 when the
Arab country of Syria was established. Qamishle in time became an important
center of Assyrian culture. The Assyrians were the majority of the city's
population, and put their stamp on it. When Egyptian President Jamal
Abdel-Nasser visited Qamishle in the late 1950s, he said of the strong
dominance of Assyrians in municipal administration "the only thing that is
missed is a cross on the roof of the town hall. This is not an Arab
municipality, but rather a church." Nasser visited Syria as President of
both countries, after Syria and Egypt had formed a pan-Arab union that lasted
from 1958 to 1961. After Nasser's visit systematic persecution of Assyrians
began and forced many Assyrians to flee to Beirut. When civil war broke in
Lebanon in 1975, they fled to Sweden and other Western countries.
Arab nationalism increased in intensity and opposition
voices were silenced effectively by the Baath regime after Hafez Assad took
power in a military coup in the 1960s. Starting in the 1970s, Syria experienced
a harsh dictatorship and became a police state.
The Assyrians had no political rights but could practice
their culture in the protection of their churches. Kurds had difficult times
for long periods. They were seen as a common threat to all Middle East
countries with Kurdish populations (Iraq, Syria, Turkey and Iran). The
countries' policies towards the Kurds were often in agreement. As late as the
1980s it was forbidden for a Kurd to open a store in Qamishle. Those who did
had to register with an Assyrian or Arab. Kurdish refugees from Turkey had no
citizenship and lived with special restrictions.
Then came the PKK guerrilla war against Turkey and Syria
saw its chance to put themselves in the game by building bases for PKK on
Lebanese territory. Lebanon was controlled by Hafez Assad at the time. But in
1999 Turkey threatened war if the PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan was not extradited
to Turkey. Assad drove Öcalan from Lebanon. After some time in Greece, Öcalan
went to Kenya where he was arrested by Turkish agents. But Öcalan continued
control the PKK from prison and has been negotiating for some time with the
Turkish government by proxy about a solution to the Kurdish question in Turkey.
He also tries to play the Islamist card against the Sunni Islamist AKP
government in Turkey. In his statement on the Kurdish New Year Newroz in March
2013, he described the relations between Kurds and Turks as "a thousand
years of Sunni brotherhood."
The revolt in Syria began spontaneously in the south of
the country in March 2011, when some young people in the city of Daraa had
scrawled on a wall that they wanted a change. The regime's hard-handed response
led to a revolution where many opposition groups formed a common front and a
political alternative to the Assad regime. The Assyrians were represented by
the Assyrian Democratic Organization (ADO). But a year later the revolution was
co-opted by different regional players who formed their own militias and
killing gangs. These have put fear into the population through rarely seen
barbarism. Nowadays, Syria is the scene of a war that no longer serves the
Syrian population's interests. It is both regional players and great powers
pulling the strings. This has led to chaos, where no one knows who is friend or
foe. Various armed groups have crisscrossing unholy alliances.
Turkey and Iran are said to be the main combatants, with
their respective allies. Turkey is an ally of Saudi Arabia and the U.S., while
Iran and Russia support Assad's regime. But even President Bashar Assad is said
to have specific groups among the opposition who are terrorizing the
population. The aim will be to show that Assad is the only option that can
control Syria. His motto has always been "Bashar or chaos."
The Kurds in Syria live mostly in the north along the
border with Turkey. In al-Jazeera Province (Qamishle and Hassake) they
constitute about 40 percent of the population. Unlike the Iraqi provinces of
Erbil, Duhok and Sleimaniya, the Kurds in Syria are not a majority in
al-Jazeera. Therefore, political observers believe that any Kurdish autonomy in
Syria is less likely and not as easy as the KRG in Iraq. In addition, there is
a internal power struggle between Masoud Barzani and Abdullah Öcalan for
control of Syria's Kurds, over natural resources and trade. Syria has rich oil
resources in the city of Rmelan, a few mils east of Qamishle. There has not
been a single attack there. It is said that the Assad regime, Kurdish PYD and
Jabhat al-Nusra have an agreement to share oil revenues.
A few months ago the Assad regime gave the administration
of al-Jazeera to Kurdish PYD. Initially PYD began extorting Assyrian merchants,
but now PYD has so much money from other activities, such as smuggling
emigrants, they no longer engage in extortion of Assyrians. Most of those
fleeing are Assyrians who purchase travel documents from PYD. The Kurdish party
PYD thus earns big money by smuggling Assyrian people, while al-Jazeera becomes
emptied of its indigenous people. It helps of course a future Kurdish
government in the area even more, when the Assyrian voice becomes weaker.
Assyrians have no armed militias. The only thing that
exists is a self financed guard that protects the Assyrian neighborhoods in
Qamishle and surrounding small towns. Assyrian political representatives are
constantly mediating between conflicting parties (AINA 11-29-2012), such as PYD
and Jabhat al-Nusra, to preserve the relative calm in al-Jazeera. The Assyrians
have a joint council representing all factions of the people and all of its
communities. This council finances the Assyrian guard.
The Kurds have a national Kurdish council where various
Kurdish interests are pulling in separate directions. Autonomy has not been
officially demanded in the platforms representing the opposition, According to
Assyrian representatives. Much of the talk seems to be for internal
consumption, as part of the Kurdish-Kurdish power struggle between the KRG and
the PKK. Turkish media also blows up the issue for their purposes. However, a
Kurdish government could be realized when the war is over and when strong
players like Barzani and Apo have agreed on its structure.
If that happens, the question becomes what would be left
for the Assyrian population in al-Jazeera?
By Augin K. Haninke
http://www.aina.org/releases/20130819193827.htm
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