Print This Post
17 September 2012, Fair Observer°

The Kurds: A Historic Opportunity?

Fair Observer° republished Gateway House's Azadeh Pourzand and Venessa Parekh's article on the Kurdish struggle for nationhood. They argue that although the Kurds are presented with a historic opportunity, autonomy is still a far-fetched quest for the Syrian Kurds, today.

post image

In the fracture of the Arab Awakening, the historic dream for Kurdish nationhood has once again emerged. In war-torn Syria, the Kurdish quest for autonomy has become an imperative feature of the conflict. Since July 2012, Syria’s armed Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) has taken over some of the northeastern areas of the country, encroaching the municipal offices in Afrin and Korbani in Aleppo Province in the north and Amude and Deirik in the east. The independent Kurdish flag now flies in these towns, where many Kurds reside.

Having taken over government buildings and infrastructure, the heavily armed PYD is reportedly providing security to the inhabitants of the Syrian northeast. Simultaneously, this militia is also fighting the anti-Assad opposition rebels, who are alarmed by the rapid and opportunistic Kurdish rise over the past three months. Whereas their success brings the Syrian Kurds a step closer to gaining a long-desired constitutional autonomy once peace is regained in the country, they still have a long way to go.

 



TAGGED UNDER: , , , , , , , , ,