Syrian Kurds Plan Autonomous Government
Pro-Rebel Faction Opposes Move
by Jason Ditz, November 12, 2013
Multiple Kurdish factions have agreed in principle to create a “transitional” government for Western Kurdistan, covering northeastern Syria, to rule autonomously for the duration of the Syrian Civil War.
The plan had been raised before, but seems practical now as Kurdish militias have ousted al-Qaeda from much of their territory, and have virtually de facto control over the region.
Not everyone is on board, however, as the Kurdish National Council (KNC), a faction closely affiliated with the rebel Syrian National Coalition (SNC), has called the move an “obstacle” tothe broader rebellion, and one which threatens to alienate the rebels.
Yet the Kurds aren’t by and large involved in the civil war itself, and are instead finding themselves trying to keep foreign Islamists from overrunning their towns with no help from either the Assad government or moderate rebels, leaving the region as a practical matter independent.
12 November 2013 Last updated at 19:00 ET
Kurdish militias have recently been clashing with Islamist rebels
Syrian Kurdish party plans transitional administration
Kurdish militias have recently been clashing with Islamist rebels
Syria's largest Kurdish party has said it plans to form an transitional administration.
The administration would rule Kurdish-majority areas in the northeast until the broader conflict is over.
Kurdish groups in northern Syria have tried to stay out of the civil war between the government and rebels.
However, Islamist rebels have moved into Kurdish-controlled areas in recent months, causing increasing clashes between them and Kurdish militias.
The Democratic Union Party (PYD) announced the move after two days of talks in the town of Qamishli in north-eastern Syria.
Alan Semo, the PYD's UK-based representative, told the BBC his party was not seeking to carve out a separate Kurdish state.
Mr Semo said the region would be "integrated in future in a united, democratic, plural Syria", adding that neighbouring Turkey, which has fought a long war against Kurdish rebels, had nothing to fear from the move.
"I think Turkey will realise that this step is not a threat to any regional or international or global stability, it is temporary," he added.
The PYD planned to introduce a constitution and regional parliament, with representation for non-Kurds in the area, he went on.
However, it is not clear whether all Kurdish factions will take part in the administration.
"I think that such a rushed, one-sided move will be seen as... an obstacle to the Syrian opposition," Nuri Brimo, a member of the Kurdish National Council (KNC), an alliance of 13 Kurdish parties, told AFP.
A de facto autonomous Kurdish zone was created when government forces withdrew from the area in the summer of 2012.
Last month Kurdish fighters took control of a border crossing with Iraq from an Islamist rebel group.
Syria's Kurdish minority makes up around 10% of the population and is largely concentrated in the country's far north-east, near the borders with Turkey and Iraq.
The fighting between jihadist rebels and armed Kurdish militia has added another layer to Syria's complex civil war.
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