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Hurriyet, Turkey
Nov 15 2013
Northern Syria on Track for Federated State
by Sedat Ergin
With all attention on the visit that KRG President Mas'ud Barzani is
going to make to Diyarbakir it pays to be reminded about one important
decision regarding the future of northern Syria that was made at a
congress held in Al-Qamishli just across from Nusaybin on the
Turkey-Syria border last Tuesday.
This congress announced to the world that steps had been taken to
found an autonomous administration in the north of Syria. The congress
is actually going to be one of the most sensitive topics on the agenda
of the meeting that is going to take place between Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Iraqi Kurd leader Barzani in Diyarbakir.
The formation of the "Rojava General Administration Founding Assembly"
was announced in a declaration published at the end of the "Western
Kurdistan (Rojava) People's Assembly" (EGRK), which was carried out
with the initiative of the Democratic Union Party (PYD) in
Al-Qamishli. The founding assembly is going to prepare the
institutional infrastructure for the "Provisional Administration" that
is going to be set up in northern Syria. These preparations are going
to conclude with the transfer to an administrative organ (government)
and a parliament. Speaking to the Anatolian News Agency PYD leader
Salih Muslim stated the decision "was not the provisional
administration but the first important step towards it" and said, "If
the preparations are completed there will be elections held within
three months." It is understood that the official declaration of the
provisional administration will be underpinned by the legitimacy
provided by the elections.
The provisional administration is supposed to be made up of cantons.
The first canton will take Afrin, which is under Kilis, as its centre.
To the east of this and under the middle of the Turkey-Syria border
will be the Kobani canton with the Cizir (Cizre) canton at the eastern
tip of the border towards Iran.
What will the representative power of the Rojava Founding Assembly be?
The PYD heads up this body and is an organization that follows the
PKK's [Kurdistan People's Congress, KGK] line. The PYD cadres see
Abdullah Ocalan in Imrali as their leader.
The founding assembly is not made up solely of Kurds. This assembly
also includes representatives from the Assyrian, Keldani and Armenian
communities as well as some of the Arabs who live in the north of
Syria. It is being emphasized that it therefore has a pluralist
representative body. Kurdish organizations close to Barzani and active
in northern Syria are opting to stay out of this initiative. When
asked why the Syrian Kurds Union Party and the Syrian Azadi Party are
not included in this body Salih Muslim replied: "Everybody was invited
to the meeting but these parties did not accept. These parties did not
attend the meeting because of objections by Turkey and the coalition."
It is clear that the ongoing struggle to exert influence in northern
Syria between the PYD and Barzani is going to be echoed at the Geneva
conference where Syria's future is going to be discussed. The PYD
plans to attend this conference not as part of the Syrian opposition
but as itself. Kurdish groups other than the PYD are going to act as
part of the Syrian opposition.
However, the PYD does seem to have more popular support in northern
Syria than the pro-Barzani groups.
The PYD derives its legitimacy in the eyes of the Kurds not only from
its numerical superiority but also from the wins in the armed struggle
it has been waging this past year against Al-Qa'idah and jihadist
groups following that line.
No matter what angle you look at it from, the founding assembly that
was declared in northern Syria last Tuesday shows all of us that a new
reality is coming into being just across Turkey's 900-km border with
Syria. In the months ahead we are going to witness the institutions of
an autonomous administration being constructed in northern Syria just
like we did in northern Iraq after 1991.
In any case, we predict that the Kurds who live here are going to
start an exercise in self-rule for the first time by taking a
significant proportion of the other ethnic and religious groups to
their side.
If the civil war in Syria continues to be locked in stalemate as it is
now for a longer period of time this will enable the body in the north
to become very well established and institutionalized.
In the future when the blueprint for new Syria is being shaped the
Kurds are going to try to get themselves appended to this new design
with the identity of a tried and tested federated
administration/state. It will come as no surprise to see pictures of
Ocalan hung on the walls in that administration's official offices.
As for Ankara; it is clearly uncomfortable here as evidenced by
Foreign Minister Davutolgu's comment on NTV the other day saying,
"Such an administration cannot be declared unilaterally" plus his
advice to the PYD, which he accused of "acting hesitantly," saying,
"They should refrain from making declarations that could divide the
country."
[Translated from Turkish]
Nov 15 2013
Northern Syria on Track for Federated State
by Sedat Ergin
With all attention on the visit that KRG President Mas'ud Barzani is
going to make to Diyarbakir it pays to be reminded about one important
decision regarding the future of northern Syria that was made at a
congress held in Al-Qamishli just across from Nusaybin on the
Turkey-Syria border last Tuesday.
This congress announced to the world that steps had been taken to
found an autonomous administration in the north of Syria. The congress
is actually going to be one of the most sensitive topics on the agenda
of the meeting that is going to take place between Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Iraqi Kurd leader Barzani in Diyarbakir.
The formation of the "Rojava General Administration Founding Assembly"
was announced in a declaration published at the end of the "Western
Kurdistan (Rojava) People's Assembly" (EGRK), which was carried out
with the initiative of the Democratic Union Party (PYD) in
Al-Qamishli. The founding assembly is going to prepare the
institutional infrastructure for the "Provisional Administration" that
is going to be set up in northern Syria. These preparations are going
to conclude with the transfer to an administrative organ (government)
and a parliament. Speaking to the Anatolian News Agency PYD leader
Salih Muslim stated the decision "was not the provisional
administration but the first important step towards it" and said, "If
the preparations are completed there will be elections held within
three months." It is understood that the official declaration of the
provisional administration will be underpinned by the legitimacy
provided by the elections.
The provisional administration is supposed to be made up of cantons.
The first canton will take Afrin, which is under Kilis, as its centre.
To the east of this and under the middle of the Turkey-Syria border
will be the Kobani canton with the Cizir (Cizre) canton at the eastern
tip of the border towards Iran.
What will the representative power of the Rojava Founding Assembly be?
The PYD heads up this body and is an organization that follows the
PKK's [Kurdistan People's Congress, KGK] line. The PYD cadres see
Abdullah Ocalan in Imrali as their leader.
The founding assembly is not made up solely of Kurds. This assembly
also includes representatives from the Assyrian, Keldani and Armenian
communities as well as some of the Arabs who live in the north of
Syria. It is being emphasized that it therefore has a pluralist
representative body. Kurdish organizations close to Barzani and active
in northern Syria are opting to stay out of this initiative. When
asked why the Syrian Kurds Union Party and the Syrian Azadi Party are
not included in this body Salih Muslim replied: "Everybody was invited
to the meeting but these parties did not accept. These parties did not
attend the meeting because of objections by Turkey and the coalition."
It is clear that the ongoing struggle to exert influence in northern
Syria between the PYD and Barzani is going to be echoed at the Geneva
conference where Syria's future is going to be discussed. The PYD
plans to attend this conference not as part of the Syrian opposition
but as itself. Kurdish groups other than the PYD are going to act as
part of the Syrian opposition.
However, the PYD does seem to have more popular support in northern
Syria than the pro-Barzani groups.
The PYD derives its legitimacy in the eyes of the Kurds not only from
its numerical superiority but also from the wins in the armed struggle
it has been waging this past year against Al-Qa'idah and jihadist
groups following that line.
No matter what angle you look at it from, the founding assembly that
was declared in northern Syria last Tuesday shows all of us that a new
reality is coming into being just across Turkey's 900-km border with
Syria. In the months ahead we are going to witness the institutions of
an autonomous administration being constructed in northern Syria just
like we did in northern Iraq after 1991.
In any case, we predict that the Kurds who live here are going to
start an exercise in self-rule for the first time by taking a
significant proportion of the other ethnic and religious groups to
their side.
If the civil war in Syria continues to be locked in stalemate as it is
now for a longer period of time this will enable the body in the north
to become very well established and institutionalized.
In the future when the blueprint for new Syria is being shaped the
Kurds are going to try to get themselves appended to this new design
with the identity of a tried and tested federated
administration/state. It will come as no surprise to see pictures of
Ocalan hung on the walls in that administration's official offices.
As for Ankara; it is clearly uncomfortable here as evidenced by
Foreign Minister Davutolgu's comment on NTV the other day saying,
"Such an administration cannot be declared unilaterally" plus his
advice to the PYD, which he accused of "acting hesitantly," saying,
"They should refrain from making declarations that could divide the
country."
[Translated from Turkish]