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Kurdistan Democratic Party of Syria

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Not to be confused with Kurdish Democratic Unity Party.
Kurdistan Democratic Party of Syria
پارتی دیموکراتی کوردستان سووری
الحزب الديمقراطي الكُردستاني في سوريا
LeaderSaud Malla[1]
Founded1957 (In Syria)
HeadquartersCurrently in Western Europe and the United States
IdeologyKurdish nationalism
Kurdish autonomy
Liberal democracy
Social conservatism[2]
Traditionalism
Political positionCentre
National affiliationKurdish National Council[3]
Party flag
Website
http://www.pdk-s.com/

The Kurdistan Democratic Party of Syria (Kurdish: Partiya Demokrat a Kurdistanê li Sûriyê Kurdish: پارتی دیموکراتی کوردستان سووری; Arabic: الحزب الديمقراطي الكُردستاني في سوريا Hizb Al-Dimuqrati ِAl-Kurdistani fi Suriya), commonly known as KDPS or PDK-S, is a Kurdish Syrian political party founded in 1957 by Kurdish nationalists in northern Syria. The party is based in Hamburg, Germany and has various branches in France, United Kingdom, Sweden and the United States of America.

History

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The party emerged from former members of a literary club, which promoted the use of the Kurdish language and was dissolved in 1956. Following, Osman Sabri and Abdul Hamid Darwish began to plan for the establishment of a Kurdish party. Sabri began to formulate a party program in the Kurdish language together with Jalal Talabani, who at the time has settled in Damascus in exile.[4] Osman Sabri, Nûredin Zaza and Abdul Hamid Darwish, along with some other Kurdish politicians, founded the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Syria (KDPS) on the 14 June 1957.[5] The party's secretary was Sabri and Nuredin Zaza became the first president in 1958.[5] The objectives of KDPS were promotion of Kurdish cultural rights, economic progress and democratic change. KDPS was never legally recognized by the Syrian state and remains an underground organization, especially after a crackdown in 1960 during which several of its leaders were arrested, charged with separatism and imprisoned. After the failure of political union with Egypt in 1961, Syria was declared an Arab Republic in the interim constitution. During the parliamentary elections of 1961, the KDPS won no seats in the Syrian Parliament. On 23 August 1962, the government conducted a special population census only for the province of Jazira which was predominantly Kurdish. As a result, around 120,000 Kurds in Jazira were categorized as foreigners even though they were in possession of Syrian identity cards.[6] In fact, the inhabitants had Syrian identity cards, which they were told to hand them over to the administration for renewal. However, those who submitted their cards received nothing in return. A media campaign was launched against the Kurds, with slogans such as Save Arabism in Jazira! and Fight the Kurdish threat!. These policies coincided with the beginning of Mustafa Barzani's uprising in Iraqi Kurdistan and the discovery of oilfields in the Kurdish-inhabited areas of Syria. In June 1963, Syria took part in the First Iraqi–Kurdish War by providing aircraft, armoured vehicles and a force of 6,000 soldiers against the Kurds. Syrian troops crossed the Iraqi border and moved into the Kurdish town of Zakho in pursuit of Barzani's peshmerga[7]

KDPS went through several divisions in the 1960s. Mustafa Barzani (the father of Mesud Barzani, the current president of Iraqi Kurdistan) attempted to reunify the party by inviting all the factions to Iraqi Kurdistan in 1970. Additionally, he reached out to various national independents with the intention of bringing the party together in the Nobardan region of Iraqi Kurdistan. Despite the shared belief in the importance of unity among both the "left" and "right," they ultimately diverged. As a result, the majority ultimately adhered to the principle of unity, leading to the establishment of the Interim Leadership under the guidance of Daham Miro and his like-minded associates, who prioritize the approach of Kurdish unity.[8]

On July 31, Daham Miro, the secretary of the party, alongside several other members of the leadership and national figures who supported the party, were arrested by the Military Intelligence Directorate. This was in response to the party's statement regarding the government's actions in implementing the Arab Belt Project's measures in the Kurdish regions back in 1973.[9]

Historian Jordi Tejel has identified "Greater Kurdistan" as being a "Kurdish myth" that was promoted to Syrian Kurds by the KDPS.[10]

Syrian Civil War and Rojava Campaign

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Politics of Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria
Symbols
Constitution
Legislature and Government
Elections
Political parties
Party alliances
Administrative regions
Foreign relations

The KDPS did not join the Syrian National Council at first, Secretary-General Abdulhakim Bashar seeing this body as too influenced by the country of Turkey. He demanded guarantees for the Syrian Kurdish population by the SNC and, in turn, stated Turkey's obligation to grant full rights to its own Kurdish population.[11] Following disputes with the dominant Kurdish party in Syria, the Democratic Union Party (PYD), the KDP-S however later led the Kurdish National Council (ENKS) to join the SNC.

To counter the PYD's dominance in the Kurdish National Council (ENKS), the KDP-S set up an alliance named Kurdish Democratic Political Union in late 2012. The strategy however failed and even backfired ultimately driving other ENKS members into cooperation with the PYD.[12] In early April 2014, the Kurdish Freedom Party in Syria (Partiya Azadî ya Kurdî li Sûriyê, or Azadî), and three other parties merged into the KDP-S.[13]

In Syria, the constitution states that political parties cannot be founded on ethnic, religious, regional and tribal basis, which has been one of the pretexts used to persecute Kurdish political organizations.


Party Splits

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The First Split (1975)

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In 1975, Muhammad Baqi Mulla Mahmoud spearheaded the initial division by establishing the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Party. He argued that the party ought to be Syrian and distinct from the Kurdish region, following a setback in the Kurdish revolution due to the March 1975 Algiers Agreement.[14][15]

The Second Split (1981)

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Muhyiddin Sheikh Ali's decision to defect from the party was based on his objection to the Kurdish involvement in the Syrian legislative elections.[16] This caused a division within the party's structure, resulting in two factions: one that retained the party's name and another that formed the Kurdish Democratic Labor Party in Syria. Muhyiddin Sheikh Ali became the secretary of this new party. Later, in 1990-1993, the party merged with other factions from the Kurdish movement in Syria, including the Parti wing of the 1988 Congress led by Ismail Omar. This culminated in the formation of the Kurdish Democratic Unity Party in Syria - Yekiti - with Muhyiddin Sheikh Ali as the secretary and Ismail Omar as the president, as elected in the party's last two conferences in 2001-2005.[17]

The Third Split (1988)

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During the 1989 party conference, Ismail Omar,[18] a Political Bureau member, broke away from some of his supporters. He exploited the Party's ongoing issues and claimed to be following the Mustafa Barzani line and obeying the Kurdish leadership in Iraqi Kurdistan. For a while, he kept the party and its central newspaper's name before ultimately deciding to rename both entities.[19]

The Fourth Split (1998)

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Nasr al-Din Ibrahim was responsible for the fourth split.[20] The eighth party conference was marked by intense disagreements between two factions, with the majority accusing the party secretary of straying from the party's established political stance and aligning with groups that do not have the party's best interests at heart. Specifically, the leadership of the Kurdish Progressive Democratic Party in Syria was implicated. This led to the Kurdish Democratic Progressive Party withdrawing from the conference, along with a number of their supporters.[21]

The Fifth Split (2002)

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Abdel Rahman Alouji and another prominent member of their party bloc carried out a fifth party split. They departed from the party, citing various reasons, with the primary concern being the party secretary's overuse of power, leading to inaction within the party's leadership and support base.[22] The party secretary rejected the election results, which led Alouji to form a new party, but with the same name.[23]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "The Kurdish Democratic Party in Syria (al-Parti)". Carnegie Middle East Center. 20 February 2012. Retrieved 17 May 2014.
  2. ^ "Kurdistan Democratic Party of Syria (PDKS)". 27 July 2018.
  3. ^ "The Kurdish National Council in Syria". Carnegie Middle East Center. 15 February 2012. Retrieved 17 May 2014.
  4. ^ Allsop, Harriet (2014). The Kurds of Syria. I.B. Tauris. p. 74. ISBN 9781780765631.
  5. ^ a b Allsop, Harriet (2014), p.75
  6. ^ Hassanpour, Amir (1992). Nationalism and Language in Kurdistan. San Francisco: Mellen Research University Press. pp. 137–138. ISBN 0773498168.
  7. ^ I. C. Vanly, The Kurds in Syria and Lebanon, In The Kurds: A Contemporary Overview, Edited by P.G. Kreyenbroek, S. Sperl, Chapter 8, Routledge, 1992, ISBN 0415072654, pp.151-2
  8. ^ Mirani, Ali Saleh (2004). Alharakat Alqawmiat Alkurdiat fi Kurdistan Suria 1946 - 1970 [The Kurdish National Movement in Kurdistan and Syria 1946-1970]. Dohuk: Spiriz.
  9. ^ "An interview with the Kurdish national figure Haj Daham Miro". Dengê Kurd (82). August 1981.
  10. ^ Tejel, Jordi (2008). Syria's Kurds: History, Politics and Society. Routledge. ISBN 9780415613460. The KDPS continued to promote the teaching of the Kurdish language in Latin characters and to cultivate the nationalist doctrine of the Syrian Kurds, using Kurdish myths (Kawa and "Greater Kurdistan")
  11. ^ "Syrian Kurd Leader: Revolution Won't Succeed Without Minorities". The Atlantic. 20 January 2012. Retrieved 17 May 2014.
  12. ^ Bruneau, Eric (30 August 2013). "KDP's failed meddling in Syrian Kurd politics". Kurdistan Tribune. Retrieved 1 November 2015.
  13. ^ "'PYD political thought resembles that of Baath Party': Kurdish politician". ARA News. 14 May 2014. Archived from the original on 19 September 2017. Retrieved 17 May 2014.
  14. ^ Allsopp, Harriet (2016). The Kurds of Syria: Political Parties and Identity in the Middle East. London: Bloomsbury.
  15. ^ Shakhki, Khalil (2018). Kurd Suria fi Eahd Hafiz Al'asad 1970-2000 [Syrian Kurds during the Era of Hafez al-Assad 1970-2000]. Amman: Dar Al Khaleej. p. 88.
  16. ^ Nimr, Faraj (1995). ""Altanzimat Alsiyasiat Alkurdiat fi Suria min Eam1956 Whataa Eam1986" ["Kurdish political organizations in Syria from 1956 to 1986"]". Voice of Kurdistan (32–33).
  17. ^ Rustam, Bir. "Muhyiddin Sheikh Ali". Arabic Blog.
  18. ^ "Splits Among Kurdish Parties: Cracks Appear in Political Landscape". Enab Baladi. June 12, 2017. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |url= (help)
  19. ^ Shakhki, Khalil (2018). Al'ahzab Alsiyasiat Alkurdiat fi Suria 1957 - 2000 [Kurdish political parties in Syria 1957-2000]. Amman: Dar Al Khaleej. p. 168.
  20. ^ Multiple Authors (2019). The Arabs and The Kurds: Interests, Fears and Commonalities. Beirut: The Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies.
  21. ^ Mirani, Ali Saleh (March 28, 2016). ""Alhizb Aldiymuqratiu Alkurdiu fi Suria "Albarti" .. min Altaasis alaa Althawratu" ["The Kurdish Democratic Party in Syria "the Party"... from its founding to the revolution"]". Madarat Kurd. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |url= (help)
  22. ^ Al-Aluji, Muhammad Nour. "the Kurdish Democratic Party in Syria, "Hopes and Aspirations."". {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |url= (help)
  23. ^ Al-Kati, Mohannad (April–May 2019). ""The Kurdish Movement in the Arab World: The Syrian Kurds as a Case Study"". AlMuntaqa. 2 (1): 47.
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