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Elaph website [Saudi Owned], London, UK
Dec 10 2012
Shirku Abbas: Building an independent Kurdish Army to Expel the Salafis
Interview with Syrian Kurdistan National Council Chairman Shirku
Abbas, by Muhammad al-Amir
Kurdistan National Council Chairman Shirku Abbas has said that the
United States and six European countries will support the building of
an independent Kurdish army in the Kurdish regions in Syria. This army
will be independent from the Iraqi Peshmerga, and its mission will be
to fight the Islamist Salafis in the Kurdish territories.
Kurdistan National Council Chairman Shirku Abbas has revealed the
intention of the Syrian Kurds to build an independent Kurdish army to
expel the hard-line Salafi groups from Syrian Kurdistan Province.
In an interview with Ilaf Abbas explains that the mission of this army
is "to protect the regions of the Kurdistan Province from any external
intervention, be it the regime, the Free Syrian Army, or the Salafi
and terrorist groups that do not recognize our rights, and we will not
allow them to control our regions."
Abbas confirms that the United States and six European countries will
finance the building of the independent Kurdish army, "we are united
together by an identical viewpoint of the danger of the hard-line
Islamist tendency, and we consider that the arrival of hardliners into
Syria is a red line."
With regard to the shape of the western support for the independent
Kurdish army, Abbas says that the support is financial, logistic, and
military. Abbas denies that the army will be an extension of the
Peshmerga widespread in Iraqi Kurdistan Province, but it will be from
the fabric of the Syrian Kurdistan Province, and will include Kurds,
Arabs, Muslims and Christians, some of whom dissented from the regular
army, and others from the Free Syrian Army, in addition to volunteers
from the inhabitants of the Kurdish regions.
The following is the text of the interview:
[Al-Amir] The Syrian Kurds have united in a single military force to
confront the Salafi groups; do you intend to join it?
[Abbas] The agreements between the Kurdish parties in Syria do not
continue; this is because of the diversity of the loyalties of their
leaders, and the influence of the foreign agendas on them. Only the
Democratic Union Party has military forces; however, some Kurdish
sides have reached an agreement to form only a joint military command,
but not joint forces, an agreement that has been included in the
latest agreement in Hawler [in Iraqi Kurdistan].
[Al-Amir] Does not the formation of Kurdish forces fan the fire of
conflict with the rest of the Syrian sides?
[Abbas] The mission of the forces that are being formed now, and which
we hope will unite, is to protect the security of the Kurdish regions,
and not to engage in armed conflicts with any other Syrian side under
the current critical circumstances. Most of the powers of the Kurdish
activities are in agreement on rejecting the entry of any external
forces into the Kurdish region. We accept the formation of a unified
Kurdish military organization on condition that it will be under
supreme Kurdish command that is effective on the ground, does not
follow the orders of diverse authorities, has the ability and the
power to impose its own opinions and orders on the ground, and whose
aim is to protect the region and the people living in it, be they
Kurds, Arabs, Assyrians, Armenians, or other minorities.
Confronting the Salafis
[Al-Amir] Does not the formation of these forces serve the regime of
Bashar al-Asad by fragmenting the Syrian constituents?
[Abbas] The work to form these forces has come on the background of
the recent incursions of the region, which were aimed at removing the
popular protection forces, and to portray the Kurds as opposing the
revolution. This has aroused suspicions of the aim of the Salafi
groups and the Arab clans, which are supported by Turkey, and which
have been able to storm the Kurdish towns in northern Syria, and moved
towards besieging the oil sources in the eastern end of Al-Jazeera.
There is no doubt that these people are serving the regime in an
opportunist way, and it is necessary to explain the Kurdish reality in
order to remove the doubts about the formation of joint unified
Kurdish forces.
[Al-Amir] Have not the movements of the Salafi groups and the Arab
clans against the Kurdish regions been caused by the negative Kurdish
stance towards the Syrian revolution?
[Abbas] All the brethren in the Syrian revolution understand that the
Kurds, whether with a military force or without it, have been among
the first rebels against the totalitarian authority, and have been the
first opposition power to demand the toppling of the regime. Now, as
our people are suffering the results of the extensive bloody events in
the country, it is important to form a military Kurdish force from the
sons of the same region in order to protect it, and to determine its
course with regard to the religious Salafi and racist Arab forces,
which want to stop the region, and whose aims are not different from
the aim of the Al-Asad-Ba'th regime, namely to destroy the Kurdish
cause.
Not Peshmerga
[Al-Amir] What about the Kurdish army?
[Abbas] We support the establishment of an independent Syrian Kurdish
army, and we work for the achievement of this aim until there is an
agreement on firm bases between the Kurdish movement and the Syrian
opposition that guarantees the Kurds the right to protect themselves
in a constitutional and legitimate way. This cannot happen except
within a national federalism for Kurds. This army will work under the
supervision of the Kurdish political movement, which believes in
freedom, democracy, and human rights, and which includes the Kurdistan
National Council in Syria, which works for these universal human
principles.
[Al-Amir] How will you finance the establishment of this army?
[Abbas] We have obtained support from the United States and six other
European countries with which we have identical viewpoints of the
dangers of the hard-line Islamist tendency, and we consider the
arrival of hardliners in Syria a red line. This support is financial,
logistic, and military, because the west aspires for calmness and
stability in the Syrian Kurdistan Province. Therefore, we will build
an army that repels the extremist terrorist campaigns supported by the
neighbouring countries.
[Al-Amir]Is it an extension of the Peshmerga in Iraqi Kurdistan?
[Abbas] Of course not. The independent Kurdish army will consist of
the fabric of Syrian Kurdistan Province, and it will include Kurds,
Arabs, and Christians. The majority of the elements of the army will
be Kurdish as the Kurds are the majority of the population in Syrian
Kurdistan. The army will consist of some dissidents from the regular
army, and some dissidents from the Free Syrian Army, in addition to
volunteers from the inhabitants of the Kurdish regions. The army
primary mission is to protect the regions of Kurdistan Province from
any external intervention, whether by the regime, the Free Syrian
Army, or the Salafi and terrorist groups that do not recognize our
rights; we will not allow them to control our regions, and we will
fight them to our last drop of blood.
We are with the Free Syrian Army, But!
[Al-Amir] Who brought in the Salafi groups into Syria?
[Abbas] The Salafi groups have entered from Iraq, Lebanon, Turkey, and
Jordan into Syria because of the huge negligence by the freedom and
democracy powers around the world of what has been taking place in
Syria since the eruption of the popular revolution. The international
powers were not ignorant of this kind of movements and organizations
in the region. As for the groups that infiltrated the town of Sari
Kani [Kurdish name of Ra's al-Ayn], or Ra's al-Ayn, they are
affiliated to Arab clans, which do not recognize the Kurdish national
aspiration, in coordination with Turkey, which wanted to destroy the
increasing influence of the Democratic Union Party in the Kurdish
region in general, and in that town in particular.
[Al-Amir] Why do you refuse to deal with the Free Syrian Army?
[Abbas] We do not reject the Free Syrian Army, which has been formed
from the military dissidents of the regular army that has been brought
up in a Ba'th way hostile to the entire Kurdish nation. Our policy is
based on the principle of opening the channels of dialogue with the
Free Syrian Army in order to convince it of the justice of the Kurdish
cause, and on the basis of forming a future Syrian Army that is under
the control of the political will of the Syrian people.
What worries us is the pursuit of the takfiri, terrorist, and Salafi
groups to control pivots, commands, and course of that army. This is
what we do not want in the Kurdish region. The Free Syrian Army ought
to remain a guard of the Constitution and the borders of the country
without getting involved in the political game of the parties, which
ought to respect the independence of the national army. This is
because the mission of the parties is completely different from the
mission of the army or the security organizations.
They rejected our simple conditions
[Al-Amir] What point have reached the negotiations between the Kurdish
parties and the National Coalition of Syrian Revolutionary and
Opposition Forces?
[Abbas]The Kurdish parties have presented conditions to join the
National Coalition. The Coalition Chairman Mu'adh al-Khatib was the
imam of the Umayyad Mosque under the Al-Asad Ba'th regime, and has
never moved a finger against the racist policy practiced by the regime
against the Kurdish people in order to annihilate their national
existence, melt them down in the melting pot of pan-Arabism, and usurp
their land and wealth. These simple Kurdish conditions are related to
removing the effects of the Ba'th policy, which was based on
settlement activities and looting wealth, without talking about the
form of administration demanded by the Kurdish people. These
conditions were met with rejection by the chairmanship of the National
Coalition on the pretext that these are constitutional issues that
ought to be postponed until after the toppling of Al-Asad regime, and
the establishment of a serious political system. This is despite the
fact that the National Coalition has included in its basic document
all the various other constitutional issues that concern the Syrian
people, except the issues that concern the Kurdish people.
[Al-Amir] Are you not afraid of Kurdish-Kurdish sedition?
[Abbas] We are pursuing the solution of all political conflicts among
the Kurds through dialogue, and we open the door widely for the
opposite free opinion, and for criticism that is far removed from
wanton methods. As the Kurdish people are homogeneous in religion and
sects, there is no scope for stirring up sectarian sedition within
their ranks. The Kurdish parties understand that the enemies of the
Kurds are working to divide them; therefore we hope that they will
rise up to the level of the historic responsibility they shoulder now.
Similar developments
[Al-Amir] Do not the latest developments in Syria's Kurdistan look
similar to what happened in Iraqi Kurdistan?
[Abbas] You cannot compare the two situations with regard to the
centres of power, the regional alliances, the senior leaders, and the
Iraqis' acceptance to a great extent of federalism, while in Syria we
witness appalling differences in viewpoints among the majority of the
Syrian opposition political powers, and also in the stumbling attitude
towards the Kurdish issue in Syria. However, we can say that the
Kurdish issue in Syria has taken a noticeable course during the recent
period; this will have results in the future. Perhaps there will be a
change in the political map of the actual influential powers on the
Syrian arena.
[Al-Amir] Have the recent events constituted an opportunity for
triggering the Kurdish awareness of nationality?
[Abbas] The Kurdish national awareness in Western Kurdistan is
historically ancient. However, the recent events in Syria have
accelerated its organizational and revolutionary moulding, and have
compelled the Kurdish political movement to get out of the shell of
complacency and slow activities into the horizons of effective action,
and of participation to some extent in the rallies of the people,
which are considered a huge engine for mobilizing the creative
abilities according to the needs of the people, and not the leaders,
who have been inert to some extent in the past.
We wanted them but they did not want us
[Al-Amir] How do you see the way President Barack Obama's
Administration deals with the Syrian issue?
[Abbas] Until today the US policy towards what is taking place in
Syria has been fragile and unrealistic, especially with the White
House statements that the use of chemical weapons by the Al-Asad
regime is a red line. This statement has been understood by the regime
as a disregard of using all other weapons against the Syrian people.
The White House has tried to use the Muslim Brotherhood and Erdogan's
Turkey as a Trojan horse to demolish the strongholds of the extremist,
terrorist, and Salafi movements infiltrating Syria if they ascend to
power in Damascus. However, these movements have hatched many
offspring, spread across the country, become strong, and started to
impose themselves over the Free Syrian Army in a forceful way.
[Al-Amir] Why do you insist on federalism, and why do you not unite
with rest of the Syrian constituents?
[Abbas] When we review our history with Syrian Arab brethren since the
collapse of the Ottoman Empire until today, we find that we have
preferred to live with them despite the offers of the French to us to
establish an independent entity for us; the result has been burning
our children, withdrawing our nationality, usurping our land, imposing
economic siege on us, and dispersing us. The Syrian Arab brethren have
applied to us every racist project they could find, starting from the
national rule to the current Ba'th. This has been done under various
names, including nationalism, progression, and now Islam.
[Al-Amir] Are the links now completely broken between the Kurds and
the rest of the Syrians?
[Abbas] When the French occupied Syria, seven Syrians, including five
Kurds, defended the country legitimately; however, after the
liberation we have found ourselves to be foreigners in our own land,
which was usurped by laws and decrees issued by the consecutive Arab
rulers until today. We wanted the Syrian Arabs, but they did not want
us. After all this, do you expect us not to demand federalism?
[Translated from Arabic]
Dec 10 2012
Shirku Abbas: Building an independent Kurdish Army to Expel the Salafis
Interview with Syrian Kurdistan National Council Chairman Shirku
Abbas, by Muhammad al-Amir
Kurdistan National Council Chairman Shirku Abbas has said that the
United States and six European countries will support the building of
an independent Kurdish army in the Kurdish regions in Syria. This army
will be independent from the Iraqi Peshmerga, and its mission will be
to fight the Islamist Salafis in the Kurdish territories.
Kurdistan National Council Chairman Shirku Abbas has revealed the
intention of the Syrian Kurds to build an independent Kurdish army to
expel the hard-line Salafi groups from Syrian Kurdistan Province.
In an interview with Ilaf Abbas explains that the mission of this army
is "to protect the regions of the Kurdistan Province from any external
intervention, be it the regime, the Free Syrian Army, or the Salafi
and terrorist groups that do not recognize our rights, and we will not
allow them to control our regions."
Abbas confirms that the United States and six European countries will
finance the building of the independent Kurdish army, "we are united
together by an identical viewpoint of the danger of the hard-line
Islamist tendency, and we consider that the arrival of hardliners into
Syria is a red line."
With regard to the shape of the western support for the independent
Kurdish army, Abbas says that the support is financial, logistic, and
military. Abbas denies that the army will be an extension of the
Peshmerga widespread in Iraqi Kurdistan Province, but it will be from
the fabric of the Syrian Kurdistan Province, and will include Kurds,
Arabs, Muslims and Christians, some of whom dissented from the regular
army, and others from the Free Syrian Army, in addition to volunteers
from the inhabitants of the Kurdish regions.
The following is the text of the interview:
[Al-Amir] The Syrian Kurds have united in a single military force to
confront the Salafi groups; do you intend to join it?
[Abbas] The agreements between the Kurdish parties in Syria do not
continue; this is because of the diversity of the loyalties of their
leaders, and the influence of the foreign agendas on them. Only the
Democratic Union Party has military forces; however, some Kurdish
sides have reached an agreement to form only a joint military command,
but not joint forces, an agreement that has been included in the
latest agreement in Hawler [in Iraqi Kurdistan].
[Al-Amir] Does not the formation of Kurdish forces fan the fire of
conflict with the rest of the Syrian sides?
[Abbas] The mission of the forces that are being formed now, and which
we hope will unite, is to protect the security of the Kurdish regions,
and not to engage in armed conflicts with any other Syrian side under
the current critical circumstances. Most of the powers of the Kurdish
activities are in agreement on rejecting the entry of any external
forces into the Kurdish region. We accept the formation of a unified
Kurdish military organization on condition that it will be under
supreme Kurdish command that is effective on the ground, does not
follow the orders of diverse authorities, has the ability and the
power to impose its own opinions and orders on the ground, and whose
aim is to protect the region and the people living in it, be they
Kurds, Arabs, Assyrians, Armenians, or other minorities.
Confronting the Salafis
[Al-Amir] Does not the formation of these forces serve the regime of
Bashar al-Asad by fragmenting the Syrian constituents?
[Abbas] The work to form these forces has come on the background of
the recent incursions of the region, which were aimed at removing the
popular protection forces, and to portray the Kurds as opposing the
revolution. This has aroused suspicions of the aim of the Salafi
groups and the Arab clans, which are supported by Turkey, and which
have been able to storm the Kurdish towns in northern Syria, and moved
towards besieging the oil sources in the eastern end of Al-Jazeera.
There is no doubt that these people are serving the regime in an
opportunist way, and it is necessary to explain the Kurdish reality in
order to remove the doubts about the formation of joint unified
Kurdish forces.
[Al-Amir] Have not the movements of the Salafi groups and the Arab
clans against the Kurdish regions been caused by the negative Kurdish
stance towards the Syrian revolution?
[Abbas] All the brethren in the Syrian revolution understand that the
Kurds, whether with a military force or without it, have been among
the first rebels against the totalitarian authority, and have been the
first opposition power to demand the toppling of the regime. Now, as
our people are suffering the results of the extensive bloody events in
the country, it is important to form a military Kurdish force from the
sons of the same region in order to protect it, and to determine its
course with regard to the religious Salafi and racist Arab forces,
which want to stop the region, and whose aims are not different from
the aim of the Al-Asad-Ba'th regime, namely to destroy the Kurdish
cause.
Not Peshmerga
[Al-Amir] What about the Kurdish army?
[Abbas] We support the establishment of an independent Syrian Kurdish
army, and we work for the achievement of this aim until there is an
agreement on firm bases between the Kurdish movement and the Syrian
opposition that guarantees the Kurds the right to protect themselves
in a constitutional and legitimate way. This cannot happen except
within a national federalism for Kurds. This army will work under the
supervision of the Kurdish political movement, which believes in
freedom, democracy, and human rights, and which includes the Kurdistan
National Council in Syria, which works for these universal human
principles.
[Al-Amir] How will you finance the establishment of this army?
[Abbas] We have obtained support from the United States and six other
European countries with which we have identical viewpoints of the
dangers of the hard-line Islamist tendency, and we consider the
arrival of hardliners in Syria a red line. This support is financial,
logistic, and military, because the west aspires for calmness and
stability in the Syrian Kurdistan Province. Therefore, we will build
an army that repels the extremist terrorist campaigns supported by the
neighbouring countries.
[Al-Amir]Is it an extension of the Peshmerga in Iraqi Kurdistan?
[Abbas] Of course not. The independent Kurdish army will consist of
the fabric of Syrian Kurdistan Province, and it will include Kurds,
Arabs, and Christians. The majority of the elements of the army will
be Kurdish as the Kurds are the majority of the population in Syrian
Kurdistan. The army will consist of some dissidents from the regular
army, and some dissidents from the Free Syrian Army, in addition to
volunteers from the inhabitants of the Kurdish regions. The army
primary mission is to protect the regions of Kurdistan Province from
any external intervention, whether by the regime, the Free Syrian
Army, or the Salafi and terrorist groups that do not recognize our
rights; we will not allow them to control our regions, and we will
fight them to our last drop of blood.
We are with the Free Syrian Army, But!
[Al-Amir] Who brought in the Salafi groups into Syria?
[Abbas] The Salafi groups have entered from Iraq, Lebanon, Turkey, and
Jordan into Syria because of the huge negligence by the freedom and
democracy powers around the world of what has been taking place in
Syria since the eruption of the popular revolution. The international
powers were not ignorant of this kind of movements and organizations
in the region. As for the groups that infiltrated the town of Sari
Kani [Kurdish name of Ra's al-Ayn], or Ra's al-Ayn, they are
affiliated to Arab clans, which do not recognize the Kurdish national
aspiration, in coordination with Turkey, which wanted to destroy the
increasing influence of the Democratic Union Party in the Kurdish
region in general, and in that town in particular.
[Al-Amir] Why do you refuse to deal with the Free Syrian Army?
[Abbas] We do not reject the Free Syrian Army, which has been formed
from the military dissidents of the regular army that has been brought
up in a Ba'th way hostile to the entire Kurdish nation. Our policy is
based on the principle of opening the channels of dialogue with the
Free Syrian Army in order to convince it of the justice of the Kurdish
cause, and on the basis of forming a future Syrian Army that is under
the control of the political will of the Syrian people.
What worries us is the pursuit of the takfiri, terrorist, and Salafi
groups to control pivots, commands, and course of that army. This is
what we do not want in the Kurdish region. The Free Syrian Army ought
to remain a guard of the Constitution and the borders of the country
without getting involved in the political game of the parties, which
ought to respect the independence of the national army. This is
because the mission of the parties is completely different from the
mission of the army or the security organizations.
They rejected our simple conditions
[Al-Amir] What point have reached the negotiations between the Kurdish
parties and the National Coalition of Syrian Revolutionary and
Opposition Forces?
[Abbas]The Kurdish parties have presented conditions to join the
National Coalition. The Coalition Chairman Mu'adh al-Khatib was the
imam of the Umayyad Mosque under the Al-Asad Ba'th regime, and has
never moved a finger against the racist policy practiced by the regime
against the Kurdish people in order to annihilate their national
existence, melt them down in the melting pot of pan-Arabism, and usurp
their land and wealth. These simple Kurdish conditions are related to
removing the effects of the Ba'th policy, which was based on
settlement activities and looting wealth, without talking about the
form of administration demanded by the Kurdish people. These
conditions were met with rejection by the chairmanship of the National
Coalition on the pretext that these are constitutional issues that
ought to be postponed until after the toppling of Al-Asad regime, and
the establishment of a serious political system. This is despite the
fact that the National Coalition has included in its basic document
all the various other constitutional issues that concern the Syrian
people, except the issues that concern the Kurdish people.
[Al-Amir] Are you not afraid of Kurdish-Kurdish sedition?
[Abbas] We are pursuing the solution of all political conflicts among
the Kurds through dialogue, and we open the door widely for the
opposite free opinion, and for criticism that is far removed from
wanton methods. As the Kurdish people are homogeneous in religion and
sects, there is no scope for stirring up sectarian sedition within
their ranks. The Kurdish parties understand that the enemies of the
Kurds are working to divide them; therefore we hope that they will
rise up to the level of the historic responsibility they shoulder now.
Similar developments
[Al-Amir] Do not the latest developments in Syria's Kurdistan look
similar to what happened in Iraqi Kurdistan?
[Abbas] You cannot compare the two situations with regard to the
centres of power, the regional alliances, the senior leaders, and the
Iraqis' acceptance to a great extent of federalism, while in Syria we
witness appalling differences in viewpoints among the majority of the
Syrian opposition political powers, and also in the stumbling attitude
towards the Kurdish issue in Syria. However, we can say that the
Kurdish issue in Syria has taken a noticeable course during the recent
period; this will have results in the future. Perhaps there will be a
change in the political map of the actual influential powers on the
Syrian arena.
[Al-Amir] Have the recent events constituted an opportunity for
triggering the Kurdish awareness of nationality?
[Abbas] The Kurdish national awareness in Western Kurdistan is
historically ancient. However, the recent events in Syria have
accelerated its organizational and revolutionary moulding, and have
compelled the Kurdish political movement to get out of the shell of
complacency and slow activities into the horizons of effective action,
and of participation to some extent in the rallies of the people,
which are considered a huge engine for mobilizing the creative
abilities according to the needs of the people, and not the leaders,
who have been inert to some extent in the past.
We wanted them but they did not want us
[Al-Amir] How do you see the way President Barack Obama's
Administration deals with the Syrian issue?
[Abbas] Until today the US policy towards what is taking place in
Syria has been fragile and unrealistic, especially with the White
House statements that the use of chemical weapons by the Al-Asad
regime is a red line. This statement has been understood by the regime
as a disregard of using all other weapons against the Syrian people.
The White House has tried to use the Muslim Brotherhood and Erdogan's
Turkey as a Trojan horse to demolish the strongholds of the extremist,
terrorist, and Salafi movements infiltrating Syria if they ascend to
power in Damascus. However, these movements have hatched many
offspring, spread across the country, become strong, and started to
impose themselves over the Free Syrian Army in a forceful way.
[Al-Amir] Why do you insist on federalism, and why do you not unite
with rest of the Syrian constituents?
[Abbas] When we review our history with Syrian Arab brethren since the
collapse of the Ottoman Empire until today, we find that we have
preferred to live with them despite the offers of the French to us to
establish an independent entity for us; the result has been burning
our children, withdrawing our nationality, usurping our land, imposing
economic siege on us, and dispersing us. The Syrian Arab brethren have
applied to us every racist project they could find, starting from the
national rule to the current Ba'th. This has been done under various
names, including nationalism, progression, and now Islam.
[Al-Amir] Are the links now completely broken between the Kurds and
the rest of the Syrians?
[Abbas] When the French occupied Syria, seven Syrians, including five
Kurds, defended the country legitimately; however, after the
liberation we have found ourselves to be foreigners in our own land,
which was usurped by laws and decrees issued by the consecutive Arab
rulers until today. We wanted the Syrian Arabs, but they did not want
us. After all this, do you expect us not to demand federalism?
[Translated from Arabic]