Kurds are the largest ethnic minority in Syria and make up nine percent of the population of 25 million people of Syria or 2.2 million in Syria. The Kurdish population in Syria is relatively small in comparison to the Kurdish populations in nearby countries, such as Iraq (4.7-6.2 million), Iran (7.9 million) and Turkey (14.4 million).
The majority of Syrian Kurds speak Kurmanji, a Kurdish dialect spoken in Turkey and northeastern Iraq and Iran, and are Sunni Muslims with the exception of some Yazidi Kurds.
Syrian Kurds have faced routine discrimination and harassment by the government. Even though Kurds have a long history in Syria, the government has used the fact that many Kurds fled to Syria during the 1920s to claim that Kurds are not indigenous to the country and to justify the government’s discriminatory policies against them.
International and Kurdish human rights organizations have accused the Syrian government of discriminating against the Kurdish minority. Amnesty International also reported that Kurdish human rights activists are mistreated and persecuted.
Kurdish settlement in Syria goes back to before the Crusades of the 11th century. A number of Kurdish military and feudal settlements from before this period have been found in Syria. Such settlements have been found in the Alawite and north Lebanese mountains and around Hama and its surroundings. The Crusade fortress of Krak des Chevaliers, which is known in Arabic as Hisn al-Akrad (Castle of the Kurds), was originally a Kurdish military settlement before it was enlarged by the French Crusaders.
It is estimated that at the beginning of the 20th century around 12,000 Kurds lived in Damascus; an unknown number of Kurds lived in the Kurd-Dagh region; 16,000 Kurds lived in the Jarabulus region; and an unknown number lived in the Jazira province where they were likely the majority.
In the 1920s after the failed Kurdish rebellions in Kemalist Turkey, there was a large influx of Kurds to Syria’s Jazira province. It is estimated that 25,000 Kurds fled at this time to Syria. These Kurdish newcomers, constituted no more than 10% of the Kurdish population of Jazira at the time and all were granted citizenship by the French mandate authorities who recognized their agricultural skills.
Kurds mostly live in a geocultural region in northeastern Syria. This region covers the greater part of the governorate of Al Hasakah (formerly the Jazira province), a region also inhabited by many Assyrians. The main cities in this region are Qamishli and Hasakah. Another region with a significant Kurdish population is Kobanê (Ayn al-Arab) in the northern part of Syria near the town of Jarabulus.
The Kurdish inhabited northern and northeastern parts of Syria are called “Kurdistana Binxetê” in Kurdish. An area of Kurdish concentration is Kurd Dagh (Kurdish Mountain) in the northwest, around the town of Afrin in Aleppo Governorate, a region that extends to the Turkish districts of Islahiye and Kırıkhan. Also, many Kurds live in the large cities and metropolitan areas of the country, for example, in the neighborhood of Rukn al-Din in Damascus which was formerly known as Hayy al Akrad (Kurdish Quarter).
The northeastern Kurdish inhabited region covers the greater part of Hasakah Governorate. The main cities in this region are Qamishli and Hasakah. Another region with significant Kurdish population is Kobanê (Ayn al-Arab) in the northern part of Syria near the town of Jarabulus and also the city of Afrin and its surroundings along the Turkish border.
“Syrian Kurdistan” (Kurdish: Kurdistana Sûriyê) is an unofficial name used by some to describe the Kurdish inhabited regions of northern and northeastern Syria. Many Kurds seek political autonomy for the Kurdish inhabited areas of Syria, similar to Iraqi Kurdistan in Iraq, or outright independence as part of Kurdistan.
The name “Western Kurdistan” (Kurdish: Rojavayê Kurdistanê) is also used by Kurds to name the Syrian Kurdish inhabited areas in relation to Kurdistan. Since the Syrian civil war, Syrian government forces have abandoned many Kurdish-populated areas, leaving the Kurds to fill the power vacuum and govern these areas autonomously.
The Kurdistan National Assembly of Syria was formed to represent Syrian Kurds based on two major conferences, one at the US Senate in March 2006 and the other at the EU parliament in Brussels in 2006.
The Kurdistan National Assembly of Syria (KNAS) seek democracy for Syria and granting rights to Kurds and other Syrian minorities. They seek to transform Syria into a federal state, with a democratic system and structure for the federal government and provincial governments. This will begin a new era in which the Syrian people and neighboring countries will enjoy freedom, peace, security and stability.
Following the Tunisian Revolution and the Egyptian Revolution, 4 February 2011 was declared a Day of Rage in Syria by activists through the social website Facebook. Few turned out to protest, but among the few were Kurdish demonstrators in the northeast of the country. On 7 October 2011, Kurdish leader Mashaal Tammo was gunned down in his apartment by masked men widely believed to be government agents.
During Tammo’s funeral procession the next day in the town of Qamishli, Syrian security forces fired into a crowd of more than 50,000 mourners, killing five people. According to Tammo’s son, Fares Tammo, “My father’s assassination is the screw in the regime’s coffin. They made a big mistake by killing my father.” Since then, Kurdish demonstrations became a routine part of the Syrian uprising. In June 2012, the Syrian National Council (SNC), the main opposition group, announced Abdulbaset Sieda, an ethnic Kurd, as their new leader.
Protests in the Kurdish inhabited areas of Syria evolved into armed clashes after the opposition Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) and Kurdish National Council (KNC) signed a cooperation agreement on 12 July 2012 that created the Kurdish Supreme Committee as the governing body of all Kurdish controlled areas.
Under the administration of the Kurdish Supreme Committee, the Popular Protection Units (YPG) were created to control the Kurdish inhabited areas in Syria. On 19 July, the YPG captured the city of Kobanê (Ayn al-Arab), and the next day captured Amûdê and Efrîn.
The KNC and PYD afterwards formed a joint leadership council to run the captured cities. By 24 July, the Syrian Kurdish cities of Dêrika Hemko (Al-Malikiyah), Serê Kaniyê (Ra’s al-’Ayn), Dirbêsî (Al-Darbasiyah) and Girkê Legê (Al-Ma’bada) had also come under the control of the Popular Protection Units. The only major Kurdish inhabited cities that remained under government control were Hasaka and Qamishli.
On Monday 11 18the of Nevember 2013, PYD announced from the unofficial Syrian Kurdish capital of Qamishli that it would form an interim transitional administration, despite objections from Turkey.
The plan is based on a PYD project announced in July 2013, that would include the formation of a interim government, elections and a constitution.
The Kurdish parties from Syria were holding meetings with Kurds, Arabs, Christians, and Chechens, to discuss the project.
The announcement comes after the People’s Defense Units (YPG) made several military gains in the province of Hasakah and captured the Iraqi border crossing in Yaroubiya on Oct. 24.
Alan Semo, a representative of the Democratic Union Party (PYD) based in London, told Al-Monitor by email that the YPG capture has the aim “to establish the self-rule of the region’s people and serve the region’s multi- ethnic communities.”
The announcement of the PYD came on the same day as the Syrian opposition group, the Syrian National Coalition, announced their provisional government for rebel-held areas, which doesn’t include members of the Kurdish nationalist parties.
A member of the Syrian National Coalition, Bassam Yousef, in a statement to Al Arabiya, denounced the PYD announcement, suggesting it could risk the partitioning of Syria, and was inappropriate before the fall of the regime.
Nevertheless, Fuad Aliko, a member of the Kurdish Unity party, told Al-Monitor from Qamishli that Ahmed Jarba, the head of the Syrian National Coalition, is willing to negotiate about the project, and send a message to the Kurdish parties from Syria.
The main Kurdish blocs, the Kurdish National Council, formed with the support of Masoud Barzani, the president of the Kurdistan region of Iraq in October 2011, and the People’s Council of West Kurdistan, close to the PYD and the PKK, reached an agreement in September 2013 to form the interim administration.
However, despite the formation of a committee in Qamishli consisting of five members of the KNC, and five members from PYD-affiliated organizations, many disagreements remained. Many members of the KNC point out that the Syrian government is still present in the cities of Hasakah and Qamishli, and pays the salaries of many employees in institutions, and that therefore forming an administration is difficult.
“The success of this project depends on the withdrawal of the regime,” said Sabri Mirza, a member of the Kurdish Unity party in Qamishli.
Especially, the Kurdish Democratic Party of Syria (KDP-S), directly affiliated to the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Massoud Barzani, is very critical of the project, and thinks the project by the PYD would legitimate the armed PYD control over the Kurdish regions.
Now, PYD, on Monday 18the of Nevember 2013, displayed its flag in the Syrian town of Ras al-Ain next to the flag of the Syrian Supreme Kurdish Council, and the PYD flag can once again clearly be seen from the Turkish side.
Kurdish National Council – Wikipedia
Syrian Kurdistan campaign (2012–present) – Wikipedia
Turkey Stands With al-Qaeda Against the Kurds
Syrian Kurdish Party declares transitional government
PYD displays its flag in Ras al-Ain after many months
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