Syria Kurds heat as much as new leaders however concern for hard-won positive aspects – Occasions of India

QAMISHLI: Kurdish authorities have made overtures to Islamist-led rebels who seized energy in Syria final week, however the long-oppressed neighborhood fears it may lose hard-won positive aspects it made in the course of the warfare, together with restricted self-rule.
The Kurds confronted discrimination throughout greater than 50 years of Assad household rule. They had been barred, for instance, from providing training in their very own language.
As rebels led by Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) seized energy, ousting president Bashar al-Assad, the Kurdish authorities in northeastern Syria have multiplied overtures to the brand new leaders, like adopting the three-starred flag utilized by the opposition.
Mutlu Civiroglu, a Washington-based analyst and knowledgeable on the Kurds, stated that the destiny of Syria’s Kurdish authorities “stays unsure,” noting “the quickly shifting dynamics on the bottom”.
Syria’s Kurds face “mounting stress from the Turkish authorities and factions below its management”, he stated, as Ankara-backed fighters seized two Kurdish-held areas within the north in the course of the insurgent offensive.
Final week, Mazloum Abdi who heads the US-backed Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) welcomed “a chance to construct a brand new Syria based mostly on democracy and justice that ensures the rights of all Syrians”.
However many within the northeast are involved about the way forward for their autonomous area.
“The factions in Damascus… do not recognise the Kurds, and now they need to whitewash their picture in entrance of the worldwide neighborhood,” Ali Darwish, a Kurdish resident of the northeastern metropolis of Qamishli advised AFP.
“However we hope that we, as Kurds, will be capable of protect our areas and enhance the financial scenario,” the 58-year-old stated.
“We hope for optimistic options sooner or later.”
‘Undermining autonomy’
Minority teams suffered in the course of the civil warfare that broke out in 2011, notably after the Islamic State (IS) group overran giant elements of the nation three years later.
HTS, the Islamist group that led the offensive that toppled Assad, is rooted in Syria’s department of Al-Qaeda and is proscribed as a terrorist organisation by many Western governments, although it has sought to average its rhetoric.
The SDF spearheaded the combat that defeated IS jihadists in Syria in 2019 with US backing — placing Washington at odds with NATO ally Ankara, which has operated militarily in opposition to the Kurds.
On Thursday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated the SDF was “important” to stopping a resurgence of IS jihadists in Syria following Assad’s ouster.
On the identical day, Turkish intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin visited Damascus and Ankara named a brand new chief of mission for its long-closed embassy in Damascus, which it has pledged to reopen.
Civiroglu stated that “Syrian Kurds face a number of important challenges, essentially the most urgent of which is Turkey’s ongoing hostility in the direction of them.”
Since 2016, Turkey has staged a number of operations in opposition to the SDF.
Ankara views the Folks’s Safety Items (YPG), a key a part of the SDF, as an extension of the banned Kurdish militants who’ve fought a decades-long insurgency inside Turkey.
“All Turkish assaults and threats in opposition to the Kurds are seen as straight or not directly geared toward undermining Kurdish autonomy and increasing Turkish management in northern Syria,” Civiroglu stated.
On the bottom, fighters of Syria’s new authorities have taken over the japanese metropolis of Deir Ezzor from Kurdish-led forces, who had briefly moved in as authorities troops and their Iran-backed allies withdrew.
Syria’s new leaders have stated repeatedly that non secular minorities won’t be harmed below their rule, however they haven’t talked about ethnic minorities just like the Kurds.
In Qamishli, residents advised AFP they had been glad Assad was ousted, however had mounting considerations.
Kurds, who characterize the most important ethnic minority in Syria, desire a “democratic state that respects everybody’s rights and faith,” stated Khorshed Abo Rasho, 68.
“We wish a federal state, not a dictatorship,” he added.
Fahd Dawoud, a 40-year-old lawyer, was hopeful that an inclusive authorities could be fashioned.
“We hope that the brand new authorities will characterize all Syrians and will not exclude any social gathering,” he stated.