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Kurdish flag carried in Amude, Photo: Shabab Kurd, Rudaw
I’m a Syrian Arab, pro-revolution, and have respect for the Kurdish desire to have a country.
At the same time, I’m very concerned about what it would mean if Western Kurdistan were to separate from the rest of Syria at this time, and I haven’t been able to find any articles or debates on-line about what is meant by an autonomous Kurdish state or region in Syria.
I’m wondering:
Would an autonomous Kurdish region prevent non-Kurdish Syrians from moving to and living in Western Kurdistan? Would non-Kurds in the region be treated as unwanted or second class citizens?
Is there a debate within the Kurdish community about possible compromises with the rest of Syria that could keep the Kurdish areas as part of Syria in practice, in addition to in name? Would there be free movement between Western Kurdistan and other areas of Syria?
These are issues that are large in the minds of many Syrians who fear an autonomous Kurdistan within Syria’s traditional borders.
I hope very much that there’s a way to compromise, to guarantee Syrian Kurds respect and promotion of Kurdish culture in the Kurdish areas and throughout Syria, while keeping Western Kurdistan as a part of the whole of one functioning Syria.
I and many Syrians who aren’t Kurdish also have major economic fears about what an autonomous Kurdish region would mean. Because the lands with almost all of Syria’s natural resources are on traditionally Kurdish territory, there’s a fear that Kurdish autonomy means cutting off the rest of Syria from the benefits of the natural resources that Syria as a whole nation has depended on to stay afloat. Without sharing a significant portion of the money made from natural resources, the rest of Syria will almost surely go into a severe economic depression in the years ahead, with little money to build up the education system or invest in other institutions where there is desperate need for development.
So I wonder if a significant majority of the Kurds of Syria would be willing to compromise on sharing much of the natural resource wealth.
Would Kurdish Syrians be satisfied if Kurdish-majority areas were guaranteed a larger cut of the natural resource money than the rest of Syria, perhaps double or three times per capita what the rest of Syria gets?
Would Kurdish Syrians be satisfied if they were guaranteed direct payment for each Kurdish Syrian so that they receive a significant amount of oil and natural gas money into their pockets directly with special paychecks regularly delivered to all Syrian Kurdish citizens, regardless of what part of the country they choose to live in?
This would give the Kurdish Syrians a major economic benefit over other Syrians, but would still leave money for investment in all of Syria.
I realize that this is about more than money, but I think a lot of the non-Kurdish Syrian fear is that Syria as a whole would be severely impoverished if an autonomous Kurdish government controlled the spending of the natural resource money.
Culturally, I believe there should be a guarantee in the constitution to provide Kurdish language education to all citizens who want it, Kurdish studies departments in universities, universities in the two largest Kurdish majority cities, Kurdish museums, government funded festivals throughout the country for holidays such as Neiruz (in order to bring Kurdish culture more directly into the Syrian mainstream), a guarantee in the constitution that Turkish armed forces must be prevented from entering the Kurdish region under any circumstances, a guarantee of freedom from imposed religion, and a host of other things placed in the national constitution that Kurds would institute in an autonomous region anyway. Of course, the word “Arab” must be dropped from the official title of Syria (Syrian Arab Republic), and discrimination against Kurds and non-Kurds should be banned and protected against by the post-Assad constitution.
Are there guarantees Syria could offer, short of making an effectively separate Kurdish nation, that would satisfy the majority of Kurds and convince them to stick with a Syrian democracy?
I’m sending this email because I don’t know what is meant by Kurdish autonomy. I’d like it to be defined or at least debated and discussed.
I’m hopeful that some Kurdish thinkers, particularly Syrian Kurds, can be brought together to tell the rest of the Syrians what some individuals representative of some Syrian Kurds are willing to entertain as possible moves for Syrian Kurdish and Arab reconciliation after Assad falls and a new state is created.
Thank you for reading this. I’ll be grateful for responses and ideas.
The correspondent is an American-born Syrian with family and property inside Syria. He would like to move to Syria and contribute to the university system for at least a few years while Syria develops as a democratic and pluralistic society.
Copyright © 2012 Kurdistantribune.com
Dear Syrian citizen
As you live in the United States which is a federal country, with each state having its own Governor and Parliament and at the same time sending delegates to the national federal legislative bodies( Congress and Senate), so you can imagine a similar administrative relation between kurdish inhabited parts of Syria( called by Kurds Westren Kurdistan) and the rest of Syria. Of course there must be a deal about fair sharing of national wealth( including natural resources), between different factions of Syrian society.
You must understand that Syrian Kurds are one of the biggest sufferes under Syrian Baath regime, they were even denied citizenship, and the oil wealth in their territories were solely used for the benefit of Arab parts of Syria and to suppress Kurds.
Kurds in syria as well as Kurds in other Parts of Kurdistan ( Iraq, Turkey, Iran) have national Aspirations, however these aspirations are limited by geopolitical regional conditions, alternatively a wide reaching autonomy or establishing a Federation or Confederation with the rest of Syria is a reasonable solution for Kurds to enjoy their national rights and preserve their culture and at the same time keeping Syrian territory united. This autonomy must be a anchored in a new civil constitution which at the same time provides for the right of self-determination, in case the new Syrian government does not keep its pledges( as it is happening for example in Iraqi Kurdistan nowadays, were a bitter conflict with central government is ever escalating, since the Iraqi governent is backing down on its pledges towads Kurds as it getting stronger).Iraqi Kurds have done a fatal mistake by not anchoring the right of self-determination in the new Iraqi constitution after the demise of Saddam Hussein regime in 2003.
Ahlan bikum Good thinking And please remember the same about Turky and Iran Alla ma akum. Ahuramazda be with you
Marhaba, and thank you for your replies.
I agree that the Iraqi/Kurdish system is an example of failure in the relationship between the Kurdish region and the rest of Iraq.
The root of the problem, it seems to me, is corruption. The Iraqi national government is stealing from the Kurdish region. Of course, it’s also a problem that the leadership in Iraqi Kurdistan is also corrupt.
We all want Syria as a whole, as well as the Kurdish region, to have true democracy without any government corruption and with an honest relationship between Kurds and the rest of the Syrian system, in which Kurds receive their agreed-upon rights and have the power to enforce their rights if agreements are broken.
How do we do this? How do we enforce honest government in both the Kurdish region and the rest of Syria?
I have a few creative ideas on what can be done. I am wondering if anyone can share some of their own ideas.
If the government in Syria after Assad is as corrupt as the current government system in Iraq–in which much of the money is stolen by those in power rather than spent for the benefit of the people, Syria will stay in much the same unhealthy condition that it has been under Assad, and also much of the reason for the revolution will have failed.
Nobody–Kurd or Arab–in Syria wants to see our country fall into the same corruption as Iraq, which is “a cautionary tail,” an example of what Syria must avoid.