Western Kurdistan under Assad’s totalitarian rule

 

By: Kamal Rajab

January 27, 2006

 

With the rise of an autonomous region in a post-Saddam federated Iraq, the question of Kurdish rights in other parts of the region looms large. The Kurds in Syria, Iran and in Turkey are severely being repressed. About 2.5 million Kurds live in Syria.  The Kurds are the second largest ethnic group in Syria. However, Kurdish is not recognized as an official language and it is forbidden to publish materials in Kurdish. Kurdish cannot be used in schools and in the workplace. Tens of thousands of “stateless” Kurds are not allowed to own property, work in various professions, or study at university. Kurds who peacefully protest such discrimination face harassment, detention, torture and unfair trials. In Syria, they are denied most civil and political rights.

 

Non-Arab and Non-Muslim minorities live throughout North Africa and the Middle East. Contrary to the propaganda that the region is Arab/Muslim, these minorities are remnants of the indigenous peoples, before the great Arab imperialist wars of the 7th century, and "Islamicization process" that followed. Non-Arab Muslims like the Kurds in Iraq, Syria, Turkey, and Iran; the Berbers - known as Amazighes - in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya, have all resisted "Arabization" for over 1,000 years. Non-Muslims like the Assyrian Christians in Iraq - who argue that they are not Arabs - the Copts in Egypt, Christian Lebanese - many who claim not to be Arab but Phoenician - the Christians in Sudan, and other Christians throughout the region, have been persecuted minorities, since the rise of Islam. Others like the Druze and Jews have also been persecuted by Arab/Muslim regimes throughout history.

Only Israel, the Jewish State, has fully liberated itself - in the political sense - from this Arab/Muslim oppression, although it still suffers from physical violence against her people. Israel should take the lead - in it's foreign policy - to support "democratization" and "regime change" throughout the region. Israel shouldn't wait until countries of the region "reform," but should pro-actively support the legitimate aspirations of the oppressed minorities of North Africa and the Middle East, and build alliances with them.

 

As the discussion of "democratization" of the Middle East continues, an important point that must be made time and time again, is the importance in building structures that liberate the minorities ( Kurds) of the region from oppression.

Some might ask about Israel's relationship with Turkey, and how will active support for the Kurds, be seen in Ankara - since Turkey also oppresses upwards of 15 million Kurds.
 

Turkey also has its problems with Syria. If the Kurds, Israelis, and Turks (along with a democratic Iraq?), could come together, Syria - the bad boy of the neighborhood - could be put in her place.

Syria has indeed become a serious impediment to accomplishing U.S. objectives in Iraq and remains a key obstacle to the prospects of regional peace and democratization. Domestically, the rather sanguine expectations that Bashar Al Assad will pursue a reformist course have been largely dashed and, wittingly or not, he appears to follow the retrograde agenda of his late father's powerful coterie that runs the country. Damascus continues to occupy and refashion Lebanon in its own oppressive image and actively support all manner of terrorism. More disturbingly still, there is growing evidence that the Syrian regime is actively seeking to develop weapons of mass destruction and delivery means for them with the help of Iran and North Korea and there are also ongoing investigations on alleged secret transfers of Iraqi WMD into Syrian custody before Iraqi Freedom began.

With the evidence of Syrian complicity in the infiltration of hundreds of suicide bombers and assorted Jihadists into Iraq from its territory now well established, it is clear that the United States could not and should not tolerate Syrian subversion if it is to win the peace in Iraq. The problem, of course, is that a military solution is not in the cards until the situation in Iraq is stabilized.

With each passing year Syria will be less capable of feeding and arming itself, and more susceptible to outside economic threats and pressures from the West. Western states can help things along by imposing economic sanctions. With a bit of determination, this could lead to a collapse of Mr. Assad's totalitarian regime in Syria. That would redraw the strategic map of the Middle East, most likely in a way that would benefit Israel--and the long-suffering Syrian people.

 

Solving the Kurdish question has become urgent not only because of the glaring inequality the stateless Kurds in Syria, but because of the radical changes to the status of the Kurds in neighboring Iraq and Turkey. Syria has always been able to boast that it treated its Kurds better than its neighbors did. That boast is now hollow. In the future, Syria's Kurds of the North-East will no longer be content to submit to the deprivations of old. If Syrians want the loyalty of the Kurds, they must accord them equal respect and rights. The plight of the stateless Kurds has long been a stain on Syria's claim to treat its people with respect.