[NPASyria] Despite allegations to the contrary, Syria’s Kurds were active participants in anti-government protests when they broke out on March 6, 2011, in the southern city of Daraa. Only 19 days later, Qamishli held its first protest in solidarity, organized by members of the ’Kurdish Revolutionary Youth’.Twelve years later, Kurdish forces, the opposition, and the government are stuck in a three-way enmity. How did it happen?
Qamishli, the largest Kurdish-majority city in Syria, held a prominent role in early 2011, as protests spread across the country. Located, as it is, in the far east of the country, protests, which tended to form in the immediate aftermath of Moslem Friday prayers, were the first to make it onto the airwaves. Anti-government media shared videos of the events in Qamishli, inciting Moslem protestors further west just as they would leave the mosque. Kurdish-majority cities, as well as Kurdish neighborhoods in Damascus and Aleppo, regularly saw demonstrations of 10-15.000 people. On Oct. 8, 2011, around 100.000 residents of Qamishli erupted into the streets.
The government in Damascus attempted to buy off the Kurdish minority, offering never-before-seen cultural rights and citizenship to tens of thousands. Despite this, protests in Kurdish-majority cities continued under banners such as "We call for freedom, not just nationality." Throughout most of 2011, the Kurds’ anti-government credentials were unquestionable.
Continued from Page 4
|
