13 December 2012
Despite the fact that not all our demands have been definitely
accepted, we got a promise from the Syrian Coalition, says Saleh Muslim
Speaking to Yeni Özgür Politika daily about the recent talks between
Kurdish Supreme Council and Syrian opposition groups, Democratic Union
Party (PYD) co-chair Saleh Muslim said that the majority of Kurds'
demands were found acceptable.
The National Coalition of Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces
which was formed in on 11 November 2012 at a conference of opposition
groups held in Doha, Qatar didn't include Kurds in the first place. The
Coalition which a number of countries started to recognize as the
legitimate representative of Syrian opponents later invited the
Kurdish National Council KNC of which however rejected the
invitation defending that the Council didn't represent all Kurds. The
Coalition therewith sat down at the table with a delegation of seven
members of the Kurdish Supreme Council KSC on behalf of Kurds.
Concerning the negotiation process, PYD Leader Saleh Muslim said that
Kurds are now represented by the mentioned delegation.
"Despite the fact that not all our demands have been definitely
accepted, we got a promise from the Coalition for the election of a
Kurdish deputy president of the Coalition, constitutional assurance
for the rights of Kurds, recognition of the Kurdish identity and
culture as well as provision of Kurdish education at schools", said
Muslim and added the followings concerning the discussions on the new
political status of Kurds in Syria;
"The choice between a Federation or a Democratic Autonomy form of
governance were both on the table during the talks with the Coalition
which, it seems, will agree on the Democratic Autonomy. Details will
become clear in the coming period when also the name of the Syrian
Arab Republic will change to Syrian Republic".
Referring to Kurdish defense forces YPG, Muslim said that; "Everyone
needs to see and accept that YPG is the force of all Kurds. It will
not be affilated to Free Syrian Army but it will act in coordination
with it".
Muslim underlined that the talks between two sides were carried out on
the basis of promises, not an official agreement, adding that; "A
transition period is expecting the Syrian country where the government
will change after the formation of a provisional government in this
process. Kurds and the Kurdish supreme Council uwill
once again have talks on their agreement once constitutional
commissions are established after the government change."
ANF / FRANKFURT
ANF NEWS AGENCY
The Kurdish Globe No. 379, Thursday, December 13, 2012 4 Globe interview with Saleh Muslim, Co-leader of the Kurdish Syrian PYD
‘’For us it’s not a case of liberation’’
Syrian Kurds with new found autonomy and historic opportu- nity find themselves in the lime- light and key actors in the Syrian struggle. The Democratic Union Party (PYD) is at the centre of the Kurdish struggle in Syria and in the Kurdish quest to capitalise on their new dawn. With rumours and scrutiny facing the party, Bashdar Pusho Ismaeel of the Kurdish Globe spoke exclusively with Saleh Muslim, Co-leader of the PYD on a number of issues to set the record straight.
Globe: At times the PYD is por- trayed negatively, as a PKK-af- filiated party who has not abided by power sharing agreement with other Kurdish parties, does not tolerate other Kurdish armed forces and has even allegedly col- laborated with the Assad regime. What is your answer to that?
Muslim: The PYD is a political party established in 2003 and of course we have our way and our philosophy and our strategy for the works. I mean if our philoso- phy or strategy was the same as classical Kurdish parties, there would be no reason to establish a new party. We established PYD which is different from the classi- cal parties in Syria. We have the philosophy of Mr. Ocalan and his ideas are adapted to the condition and situation of Western Kurdis- tan. Our work is different from a radical party or the philosophy of classic parties. So it’s usual for people who promoting the inter- est of regional and global powers to attack our party and to blame it, because we are promoting and working for the interest of the people in Western Kurdistan and all Syrians.
In 50 years the Kurdish par- ties could not submit anything to Kurdish politics or to the Kurd- ish people of Western Kurdistan. They could not organise them- selves very well and especially for the critical duration facing Western Kurdistan. So everything belonged to the PYD, all the re- sponsibilities including defend- ing the people and organising the people fell to the PYD. PYD is doing everything and because of that, we are being attacked not only by the classic Kurdish par- ties but also other sides that are against the Kurdish people and their struggle.
They are enemies of the Kurd- ish people. So we are under attack from all of them. There are many rumours and sayings, trying to affiliate us with the PKK where other than the general philosophy we are completely different from them. We have our own leader- ship, strategy, and work for West- ern Kurdistan, we do not have any organic relations with the PKK or affiliations with them. But we
Saleh Muslim, Co-leader of the PYD
support each other like any party, our relation with them is no differ- ent to our relations with the KDP (Kurdistan Democratic Party) of Massaud Barzani or PUK (Patri- otic Union of Kurdistan) of Jalal Talabani.
Globe: Do you have any prob- lem working with other Kurdish parties or power sharing?
Muslim: No, not at all. We would like to share the power with all Kurdish parties. We can do ev- erything together. We have been seeking the co-operation with them since we were established in 2003, where we knocked on all their doors, we met them one by one to build relations and to work together and to make agree- ments with them but we could not achieve this.
Globe: In terms of the Kurdish forces, do you have any problem in working with other Kurdish forces specifically the “Syrian Peshmerga” trained in Kurdistan Region? Is the force in Syrian Kurdistan, a PYD force or a na- tional force for all Kurds?
Muslim: We have no problem to unite all the armed forces for the sake of the Kurdish people. In Western Kurdistan you can have many political parties, many organisations but when it comes to the armed forces, there should only ever be one armed force for the region. Otherwise if you have intra-fighting it’s a massive prob- lem. Because of that, as part of the Kurdish Supreme Council we decided to unify all of the armed forces, including those Kurdish forces in Syria or those trained in Southern Kurdistan. We are trying to unify them and this is no problem as the forces belong to the people. They are protect-
ing people of Western Kurdistan. Everybody has a right to join it to defend his family and relations. This is never a problem for us. But importantly, any force should only be under one commander.
We don’t refer to such forces trained in Southern Kurdistan as Peshmerga, they are simply part of the Peoples Protection Unit, the defence units. It’s the same to us and we do not differentiate on the type of forces by referring to these specifically as “Peshmerga”. Those forces are in Syrian right now. Most of them are Kurdish soldiers who had defected from the Syrian Army and they are simply the army of the Kurdish people in Western Kurdistan pro- tecting them. An important point, they do not belong to any political party, nor the PYD or even Dem- ocratic Society Movement (Tev- Dem). They are established by (Tev-Dem) but they belong to the Syrian Kurdish people, because they take orders from the Kurdish Supreme Council.
Globe: Some have accused you of collaborating with Assad’s re- gime in Kurdish areas, can you set the record straight on that?
Muslim: We have been fighting this regime since we were estab- lished in 2003. We have had our people killed under torture, when the Syrian uprising started in March 2011 we had about 1,500 people under arrest and tortured by Assad’s security apparatus. Because of that we cannot say we have relations with them. But because our strategy is different from other organisations and oth- er parties, they try to find a reason to blame us. Only because we re- fused to become soldiers for the others as on many other occasions
in Kurdish history. Kurds have always been soldiers for others, fighting for them, dying for them and at the end they receive noth- ing. So we refuse to follow that historical trap. Now they point the blame at us as we refused to be their soldiers. We have no re- lations with the regime at all, nor would we ever open the hand of the gladiator that is killing us.
Globe: Turkey has been closely observing the new found Kurd- ish autonomy in Syria with great unease. Do you have any contact with the Turkish authorities? Do you see any threat in a direct Turkish invasion?
Muslim: We are on the side of dialogue with everybody, not just Turkey. Anyone involved in the Syrian conflict or the Kurdish case, we are open to negotiations with them and we do not have any objections. Today, we don’t have any contact with the Turk- ish authorities but we don’t refuse contact or meetings with them, if the Turkish regime accepts us. As for any invasion, I don’t think in- ternational conditions make sense for any invasion, they will not allow such an invasion nor is it convenient for any military inter- vention in Syria. But the Turkish hand is clearly in Syria from the beginning of the uprising. They are trying to be involved and are supporting armed groups to desta- bilise relatively peaceful Kurdish region and the Turkish interven- tion has succeeded in turning the peaceful uprising into an armed uprising against the regime. This was only possible with Turkish support of armed groups.
In the Kurdish case, we have already seen what happened in Aleppo, Afrin and Sere Kaniye
where armed groups have in- vaded the Kurdish areas from Turkey. They are supporting them and they are sending them to mix the Kurdish areas and to destroy peaceful situation of the Kurdish areas. Groups such as Al-Nusra Front and Ghuraba al-Sham are all related to the Turkish regime, affiliated, supported and sent by them.
And even in Sere Kaniye when they were going to escape to get back to Turkey, Turkey closed the border and said to these armed groups you either have to fight or die. So they didn’t allow them to go back and still those forces are there. Just yesterday there was an air attack by regime forces on those armed groups, but they have nowhere to escape because Turkey closed the border and they are unable to move out, so they are hemmed in. More than 20 of them were killed yesterday by that air attack.
Globe: What is your message to Turkey?
Muslim: Turkey must step away from their Kurdish phobia. Kurds can live together with the Turk- ish people, we have no problem with any Turk. We are friends and neighbours with Turkmen in Syr- ia and the same with the Turkish people. We have no problem with the Turkish people and we can co-exist peacefully. The Turkish government should understand that and build on the brotherly ties between the two nations, in- stead of been driven by a phobia of Kurds.
Globe: Recently, there has been much violence between FSA, par- ticularly their Islamist wings and PYD forces in Sere Kaniye and within Aleppo itself. Why such hostility and general animosity? What must happen before you will work with the FSA?
Muslim: If they leave us alone, then we don’t have any problem with the Free Syrian Army. They are mostly compromised of sol- diers defecting from the Syrian Army and to protect the civil- ians. But it is only specific armed groups that are fighting and at- tacking the Kurdish areas even when there are no regime forces in such areas. They are attacking civilians and such groups do not belong to the FSA at all and even the FSA have issued declarations that they are not affiliated with them. They are different groups to the FSA and they are only us- ing the name of FSA, but nobody recognises them as FSA. They belong to the Turkish regime. Especially, in Aleppo, Afrin and Sere Kaniye, these groups were clearly supported by Turkey with weapons, with facilities of move- ment and they are coming from
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