What does the future hold for the West of Kurdistan?

By Mufid Abdulla:

The ground beneath the feet of the Syrian dictator and his despotic system is crumbling and the end of the regime is now a matter of time. Although this is a positive development, we must consider the future for our fellow Kurds living in the west of Kurdistan. Although the current leaders of Syrian opposition groups and the Syrian Free Army (FSA) are not publically challenging the Kurds today, that doesn’t mean they won’t do so tomorrow if they gain power over the Kurdish minority in the country, which now amounts to more than 2 million people. The character of the dictatorship is complex which means that the nature and fabric of Syrian society is so too: A good society should produce good leaders and healthy thinking.

All the reports indicate that the Kurds have taken control of most of their towns and cities in the west of Kurdistan. Now is the time to consider how they will engage with any new regime replacing Assad. There is almost a feeling of deja vu here. We have been here before in the south of Kurdistan, and we know how it feels. But the prospects for the Kurds in western Kurdistan today are brighter than ours were 21 years ago, partly because Syria’s Kurds can learn from our experiences and hopefully avoid some of our mistakes.

The UN mission in Syria has in effect gone bankrupt and the mass of the people lack confidence in it. Historically the UN has a mixed track record in its missions around the world in similar situations. The option of external military intervention also seems unlikely and it would probably act as a magnet to terrorist groups.

The Kurdistan Free Army (KFA) and their leadership have proved that they are capable of running their own affairs and they could continue to do so in coordination with a future new government in Damascus. The KFA are correct in not allowing the FSA to enter the west of Kurdistan, for two reasons. First, a total KFA victory is within reach and they don’t need to easily give it away to the FSA. Second, in this early stage they will make the message clear that Kurds can run and protect their own land.

Bashar Assad and his father before him, the ideologists of the Ba’ath party, have gripped Syria for the last 41 years with iron fists. Having now played their own part in this revolution, the Kurds have effectively reasserted their own identity, despite attempts by the opposition Syrian National Council to marginalize them. What the Kurds are doing now in the west lays the basis for a semi-autonomous region which can link with her sister in the south of Kurdistan. This would be a negotiated solution for the Kurds in the west of Kurdistan. This is not a dream; this can become the reality in a country that has not allowed Kurds to speak their language, or have passports or wear their traditional clothes.

Kurds in the west of Kurdistan should take heed of what is going on in Iraq. The potential partition of Syria is inevitably akin to that facing Iraq. For the last 10 years a Shia dominated government in Iraq has failed to solve any of the problems that are rooted in the Saddam era. Syria’s narrow-minded Arab nationalists are the same and they are all eating from the same pie. Kurds in the west need to prepare a coherent proposal for the future government in Damascus and they have to act quickly in deciding what to do next as the critical moment is fast approaching. Kurdish politicians should now focus on the task at hand, which is to renew the nationalist movement in the west of Kurdistan, to preserve their unity and not to play party politics as the two ruling parties did in the south of Kurdistan, where they lost people’s goodwill and many hearts and minds.

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