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Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria

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Rojava
  • [Rojavayê Kurdistanê] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help)
  • کردستان السورية
Flag of Rojava
Map showing de facto cantons held by PYD forces in February 2014
Map showing de facto cantons held by PYD forces in February 2014
Statusde facto autonomous region of Syria
CapitalQamişlo (Qamishli)[1][2]
languagesKurdish
Arabic[3]
Syriac-Aramaic
GovernmentLibertarian socialism[4]
Feminism[5][6]
Democratic confederalism[7][8][9][10][11]
• President
Salih Muslim Muhammad
Autonomous region
• Autonomy Proposed
July 2013
• Autonomy Declared
November 2013
• Regional government established
November 2013
• Interim Constitution Adopted
January 2014
Population
• 2014 estimate
4.6 million [12]
CurrencySyrian pound (SYP)

Rojava (also known as Western Kurdistan or Syrian Kurdistan, [Rojavayê Kurdistanê] Error: {{Lang-xx}}: text has italic markup (help), from rojava meaning "western"; Arabic: کردستان السورية Kurdistān as-Sūrīyah) is a de facto autonomous region in northern and north-eastern Syria.[13] It is not officially recognized as autonomous by the government of the Syrian Arab Republic.[14] The governance of the region is based on the philosophy of democratic confederalism which emphasises self-suffiency, localism and political pluralism.[15] The PKK describes democratic confederalism in their manifesto:

The democratic confederalism of Kurdistan is not a State system, it is the democratic system of a people without a State... It takes its power from the people and adopts to reach self sufficiency in every field including economy.

Kurds consider Rojava to be part of a greater Kurdistan which also includes parts of southeastern Turkey (Turkish Kurdistan), northeastern Iraq (Iraqi Kurdistan), and northwestern Iran (Iranian Kurdistan). In the course of the Syrian Civil War, Syrian government forces withdrew from three Kurdish enclaves leaving control to local militias in 2012.

The Kurdish Supreme Committee (Desteya Bilind a Kurd, DBK) was established by the Democratic Union Party (PYD) and the Kurdish National Council (KNC) as the governing body of Rojava in July 2012.[16] The member board consists of an equal number of PYD and KNC members.[17] In November 2013, the PYD announced an interim government divided into three non-contiguous autonomous areas or cantons, Afrin, Jazira and Kobani.[18]

The DBK's armed wing is the People's Protection Units (Yekîtîyên Parastina Gel, YPG). Military service was declared compulsory in July 2014.[19]

Geography

Kurdish-inhabited areas in Syria lie immediately to the west of the Tigris along the Turkish border. There are three separate cantons: Jazira Canton, Kobanê Canton and Afrin Canton. All are at latitude approximately 36 and a half degrees north, are relatively flat and are bordered by Turkey. Jazira Canton also borders Iraqi Kurdistan to the south-east. Other borders are disputed in the Syrian Civil War.

Rojava covers an area of 18,300 square kilometers.[20] The area is mostly flat.

History and background

Until the 19th century, Kurdistan did not include areas to the west of Tigris.[note 1][21] Similarly, Kurdistan as suggested by the Treaty of Sèvres did not include any territory in what later became Syria. Nowadays, the population of much of the claimed Kurdish part of Syria is overwhelmingly Arab (e.g., Azaz, al-Bab), Circassian (e.g., Manbij), Assyrian (e.g., Tell Tamer), or mixed (Qamishli, al-Yarubiyah, al-Hasakah, al-Malikiyah, Al-Qahtaniyah, al-Hasakah Governorate, etc.).[citation needed]

Syrian Kurds

Further information: Kurdistan, Kurds in Syria, and Modern history of Syria

The demographics of this area saw a huge shift in the early part of the 20th century. Kurdish tribes cooperated with Ottoman authorities in the massacres against Armenian and Assyrian Christians in Upper Mesopotamia and were in return granted their land as a reward.[22]

Kurdish-inhabited areas

Assyrians began to emigrate from Syria after the Amuda massacre of August 9, 1937. This massacre, carried out by the Kurd Saeed Agha, emptied the city of its Assyrian population. In 1941, the Assyrian community of al-Malikiyah was subjected to a vicious assault. Even though the assault failed, Assyrians were terrorized and left in large numbers, and the immigration of Kurds from Turkey to the area converted al-Malikiya, al-Darbasiyah and Amuda to completely Kurdish cities. The historically-important Christian city of Nusaybin had a similar fate after its Assyrian population left when it was ceded to Turkey through the Franco-Turkish Agreement of Ankara in October 1921. The Assyrian population of the city crossed the border into Syria and settled in Qamishli, which was separated by the railway (new border) from Nusaybin. Nusaybin became Kurdish and Qamishli became an Assyrian city. Things soon changed, however, with the immigration of Kurds beginning in 1926 following the failure of the rebellion of Saeed Ali Naqshbandi against the Turkish authorities.[23] In the 1920s waves of Kurds fled their homes in Turkey and settled in northeastern Syria, where they were granted citizenship by the French mandate authorities.[24]

CIA map of Kurdish-inhabited area in 2002

Syrian Civil War

Current military situation in the Syrian Civil War.
  Controlled by the Syrian government
  Controlled by Rojavan forces
  Controlled by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
  Controlled by al-Nusra Front
  Controlled by other rebels

(For a more detailed map, see Cities and towns during the Syrian Civil War)
Main article: Syrian Kurdistan campaign (2012–present)

During the Syrian civil war People's Protection Units (YPG) were created by the Kurdish Supreme Committee to control the Kurdish inhabited areas in Syria. In July 2012 the YPG established control in the towns of Kobane, Amuda and Afrin.[25] The two main Kurdish groups, the Kurdish National Council (KNC) and the Democratic Union Party (PYD), afterwards formed a joint leadership council to administer the towns.[25] Later that month the cities of Al-Malikiyah (Dêrika Hemko), Ra's al-'Ayn (Serê Kaniyê), Al-Darbasiyah(Dirbêsî), and Al-Maabadah (Girkê Legê) also came under the control of the Popular Protection Units.

The only major Kurdish inhabited cities that remained under government control were Hasaka and Qamishli.[26][27] However, parts of Hasaka and Qamishli later also became controlled by the YPG.

In 2014 Kobane was besieged by ISIL.

In January 2015 the YPG fought against Syrian government forces in Hassakeh[28]

Government

PYD checkpoint in Afrin (August 2012)

The political system of Rojava is a mixture of socialist principles at the local level with libertarian principles at the national level. The constitution has protection for currency, property rights and free trade.[29] The basic unit at the local level is the community which pools resources for edcation, protection and governance. At a national level communities are unrestricted in deciding their own economic decisions on who they wish to sell to and how resources are allocated. There is a broad push for social reform, gender equality and ecological stabilization in the region.[30]

Moving towards democratic autonomy

The governance model of Rojava has an emphasis on local management with regions divided into cantons with committees to democratically make decisions. The Movement for a Democratic Society (also known as TEV-DEM) is the political coalition governing the democratically autonomous Kurdish areas of northern Syria referred to collectively as Rojava.

Its programme immediately aimed to be "very inclusive" and people from a range of different backgrounds became involved (including Kurds, Arabs, Assyrians, and Turkmen (from Muslim, Christian, and Yazidi religious groups). It sought to "establish a variety of groups, committees and communes on the streets in neighborhoods, villages, counties and small and big towns everywhere". The purpose of these groups was to meet "every week to talk about the problems people face where they live". The representatives of the different community groups meet "in the main group in the villages or towns called the “House of the People”".

According to Zaher Baher of the Haringey Solidarity Group, the TEV-DEM has been "the most successful organ" in Rojava because it has the "determination and power" to change things, it includes many people who "believe in working voluntarily at all levels of service to make the event/experiment successful", and it has "set up an army of defence consisting of three different parts" - the YPG, the YPJ, the Asaish (a "mixed force of men and women that exists in the towns and all the checkpoints outside the towns to protect civilians from any external threat"), and "a special unit for women only, to deal with issues of rape and domestic violence".[31]

Centralised political representation

Alongside TEV-DEM there is the Democratic Society Movement, an interim governing body of Rojava and consists of an equal number of Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) and Kurdish National Council (KNC) members.[17] This council mainly is concerned with external affairs.

Political parties include: Democratic Union Party (Syria), Syriac Union Party (Syria), Kurdish National Council

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

There are no plans for independence from Syria, but for self-administration and control of local resources.[32]

Kurdish officials said they planned to hold elections for a new government before the end of 2014,[33] but this has been postponed due to fighting.

There are 20 ministries dealing with the economy, agriculture, natural resources, and foreign affairs.[33] Among other stipulations outlined is a quota of 40% for women’s participation in government, as well as another quota for youth. Separately in connection with a decision to introduce affirmative action for minority ethnicities, all governmental organizations and offices are based on a co-presidential system.[34]

Human rights

Legally women have equal rights and there are quotas for their political representation.[35] There is affirmative action to give power to minority groups and ethnicities as a guiding principle. Human rights lawyer Margaret Owen who visited Rojava for 8 days, reported being deeply impressed, commenting that "Rojava demonstrates what is possible".[36]

Human Rights Watch who was permitted to visit in early 2014, reported "arbitrary arrests, due process violations, and failed to address unsolved killings and disappearances" and made recommendations for government improvement.[37] However Fred Abrahams, special advisor to HRW who visited Rojava and drafted the report, noted that the PYD has taken solid steps to addressing the problems and has been receptive to criticism. He notes that they are currently in the process of political transitioning from the Syrian government, training a new police force and creating a new legal system.[38]

There has also been allegations of teenage fighters serving in the YPG military. After criticism from Human Rights Watch when the problem persisted, the YPG pledged publically to demobilize all fighters under 18 within a month.[37] It is worth noting that the YPG is a "decentralised army", and individual units act autonomously.[39] However the YPG has took steps to prevent teenage volunteer fighters under the age of 18.

19-YEAR-OLD HERISH ALI, a British-Kurd, said he requested to join the YPG along with five other European Kurds in August but YPG border guards rejected them on the Iraq-Syria border.

"We met the YPG fighters and stayed with them at their Sihela border crossing to Iraqi Kurdistan. They were nice and we thought it was awesome to join them, but they rejected us when we revealed that we are students and we have dual nationalities," Ali said.

He added: "We told them that we feel degraded because it was like we are not capable men for this fight, but they kept refusing our arguments and said we should go back to Europe and study. Then, they drove us to the nearby Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga checkpoint where the peshmergas too rejected taking us as volunteers."[40]

Economy

Private property is protected, and entrepreneurship is de jure. There are no taxes on the people or businesses in Rojava. Instead money is raised through border crossings, and selling oil or other natural resources. The administration of Rojava is encouraging local community-based cooperatives as a way for people to serve their own needs and provide employment.[41][42]

Price controls are managed by demoratic comittees per canton, which can set the price of basic goods such as for food and medical goods. This mechanism can also be used for managing public production to for instance, produce more wheat to keep prices low for important goods.[42]

Background

Before the civil war, 60% of Syria's poor were of Kurdish origin. Rojava under Syrian rule had little investment or development from the central government. Laws discriminated against Kurds from owning property, and many were without citizenship. Property was routinely confiscated by government loansharks. There were no high schools, and Kurdish language education in middle schools was forbidden disadvantaging Kurdish students education. Hospitals lacked equipment for advanced treatment and instead patients had to be transferred outside Rojava.[20]

Resources

Oil and food production exceeds demand[33] so exports include oil and agricultural products such as sheep, grain and cotton. Imports include consumer goods and auto parts.[43] The border crossing of Yaroubiyah is intermittently closed by the Iraqi side. Turkey does not allow Syrian Kurd business people or their goods to cross the border [44] although Rojava would like the border to be opened.[45]

Before the war, Al-Hasakah governorate was producing about 40,000 barrels of crude oil a day. However, during the war the oil refinery has been only working at 5% capacity due to lack of refining chemicals, some people work at polluting, and primitive oil refining.[46]

In 2014, the Syrian government was still paying some state employees,[47] but fewer than before [48] however the government says that "None of our projects are financed by the regime".[45]

Military and police

Main articles: People's Protection Units and Sutoro

The People's Protection Units was founded by the PYD party after the 2004 Qamishli clashes, but it was not active until the Syrian Civil War.[49] As of the signing of the Arbil Agreement by PYD and KNC the Armed Wing came under the command of the Kurdish Supreme Committee, though in reality it is almost exclusively still the armed wing of the PYD.[50] The DBK's armed wing is the People's Protection Units (Yekîtîyên Parastina Gel, YPG). Military service was declared compulsory in July 2014.[51] The Sutoro is a Christian militia defending Assyrian areas. The police function in Rojava-controlled areas is performed by the Asayish armed formation.

The YPG is a trained force utilising snipers and mobile weaponry to launch hit and run attacks and maneuvre quickly.

Relying on speed, stealth, and surprise, it is the archetypal guerrilla army, able to deploy quickly to front lines and concentrate its forces before quickly redirecting the axis of its attack to outflank and ambush its enemy. The key to its success is autonomy. Although operating under an overarching tactical rubric, YPG brigades are inculcated with a high degree of freedom and can adapt to the changing battlefield.[39]

Demographics

Further information: Kurds in Syria and Demographics of Syria

Most of the people in Rojava are Kurdish[33] but there are also settlements of Arab or Assyrian people, especially in the al-Hasakah Governorate; and Yezidis, Armenians, and Turkmen.

Foreign relations

Turkey claims the YPG is the same as the PKK, which they consider a terrorist organisation, whereas YPG leaders insist the PKK is a separate organization.[52] Turkey has been accused of supporting ISIS attacks on the YPG, allowing them to conduct attacks from the Turkish border, photographic evidence of Turkish soldier saluting ISIS fighters and providing logistical support.[53]

There is military cooperation with Iraqi Kurdistan and the USA although there is no official support for Rojava or the YPG.

In January 2015, a UK parliament committee asked the government to explain and justify its policy of not working with the Rojava military to combat ISIS.[54]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Modern Curdistan is of much greater extent than the ancient Assyria, and is composed of two parts the Upper and Lower: In the former is the province of Ardelan, the ancient Arropachatis, now nominally a part of Irak Ajami, and belonging to the north west division called Al Jobal. It contains five others, namely, Betlis, the ancient Carduchia, lying to the south and south west of the lake Van. East and south east of Betlis is the principality of Julamerick, south west of it is the principality of Amadia. the fourth is Jeezera ul Omar, a city on an island in the Tigris, which corresponds to the ancient city of Bezabde. The fifth and largest is Kara Djiolan, with a capital of the same name. The pashalics of Kirkook and Solimania also comprise part of Upper Kurdistan. Lower Kurdistan comprises all the level tract to the east of the Tigris, and the minor ranges immediately bounding the plains and reaching thence to the foot of the great range, which may justly be denominated the Alps of western Asia.
    A Dictionary of Scripture Geography 1846, John Miles.[21]

References

  1. ^ http://basnews.com/en/News/Details/Syrian-Defense-Minister-in-Qamishli--We-won-t-let-anyone-take-Hasakah/21882
  2. ^ http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/03/isis-attacks-kurdish-capital.html
  3. ^ "West Kurdistan divided into three cantons". ANF. 6 January 2014. Retrieved 6 January 2014.
  4. ^ Biehl, Janet (2014-12-20). "Libertarian Revolution in Rojava | Janet Biehl".
  5. ^ Sule Toktas (1970-01-01). "Waves of Feminism in Turkey: Kemalist, Islamist and Kurdish Women's Movements in an Era of Globalization | sule toktas". Academia.edu. Retrieved 2014-08-14.
  6. ^ Campos, Paul (2013-01-30). "Kurdistan's Female Fighters". The Atlantic. Retrieved 2014-08-14.
  7. ^ Jongerden, Joost. "Rethinking Politics and Democracy in the Middle East" (PDF). Retrieved 8 September 2013.
  8. ^ Ocalan, Abdullah (2011). Democratic Confederalism (PDF). ISBN 978-0-9567514-2-3. Retrieved 8 September 2013.
  9. ^ Ocalan, Abdullah (2 April 2005). "The declaration of Democratic Confederalism". KurdishMedia.com. Retrieved 8 September 2013.
  10. ^ "Bookchin devrimci mücadelemizde yaşayacaktır". Savaş Karşıtları (in Turkish). 26 August 2006. Retrieved 8 September 2013.
  11. ^ Wood, Graeme (26 October 2007). "Among the Kurds". The Atlantic. Retrieved 8 September 2013.
  12. ^ Estimate as of mid November 2014, including numerous refugees. "Rojava’s population has nearly doubled to about 4.6 million. The newcomers are Sunni and Shia Syrian Arabs who have fled the scorched wasteland that Assad has made of his country. They are also Orthodox Assyrian Christians, Chaldean Catholics, and others, from out of the jihadist dystopia that has taken up so much of the space where Assad’s police state used to be." "In Iraq and Syria, it's too little, too late". Ottawa Citizen. 14 November 2014.
  13. ^ The secret garden of the Syrian Kurdistan
  14. ^ [1]
  15. ^ [2]
  16. ^ "Kurdish Supreme Committee in Syria Holds First Meeting". Rudaw. 27 July 2012. Retrieved 6 January 2014.
  17. ^ a b "Now Kurds are in charge of their fate: Syrian Kurdish official". Rudaw. 29 July 2012. Retrieved 6 January 2014.
  18. ^ PYD Announces Surprise Interim Government in Syria’s Kurdish Reg
  19. ^ "YPG's Mandatory Military Service Rattles Kurds". 27 August 2014.
  20. ^ a b "Efrîn Economy Minister: Rojava Challenging Norms Of Class, Gender And Power".
  21. ^ a b A Dictionary of Scripture Geography, p 57, by John Miles, 486 pages, Published 1846, Original from Harvard University
  22. ^ Hovannisian, Richard G., 2007. [The Armenian Genocide: Cultural and Ethical Legacies http://books.google.ca/books?id=K3monyE4CVQC&pg=PA271&dq=assyrian+genocide+by+kurds+in+syria&hl=en&sa=X&ei=BS1kVLqiGcOsyATv34DoCA&ved=0CCgQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=Amuda&f=false]. Accessed on 11 November 2014.
  23. ^ Abu Fakhr, Saqr, 2013. As-Safir daily Newspaper, Beirut. in Arabic Christian Decline in the Middle East: A Historical View
  24. ^ Chatty, Dawn, 2010. Displacement and Dispossession in the Modern Middle East. Cambridge University Press. pp. 230-232.
  25. ^ a b "More Kurdish Cities Liberated As Syrian Army Withdraws from Area". Rudaw. 20 July 2012. Retrieved 27 July 2012.
  26. ^ "Armed Kurds Surround Syrian Security Forces in Qamishli". Rudaw. 22 July 2012. Retrieved 27 July 2012.
  27. ^ "Girke Lege Becomes Sixth Kurdish City Liberated in Syria". Rudaw. 24 July 2012. Retrieved 27 July 2012.
  28. ^ http://uk.reuters.com/article/2015/01/17/uk-mideast-crisis-syria-kurds-idUKKBN0KQ0KC20150117
  29. ^ "Charter of the social contract in Rojava (Syria)".
  30. ^ "ROJAVA: POLITICAL STRUCTURE OBSCURED BY HEADLINES".
  31. ^ "The experiment of West Kurdistan (Syrian Kurdistan) has proved that people can make changes". Anarkismo.net. Retrieved 21 October 2014.
  32. ^ "War with Isis: The forgotten, plucky Kurds under siege in their enclave on Syria's border with Turkey". Independent. 13 November 2014.
  33. ^ a b c d "Striking out on their own". The Economist.
  34. ^ https://rojavareport.wordpress.com/2014/01/06/western-kurdistans-governmental-model-comes-together/
  35. ^ "Syrian Kurds give women equal rights, snubbing jihadists". Yahoo.
  36. ^ "Prominent UK human rights lawyer and women's rights campaigner returns from Rojava solidarity visit".
  37. ^ a b "Syria: Abuses in Kurdish-run Enclaves". Human Rights Watch. 2014-06-18.
  38. ^ "Rights Official Speaks of Situation in Rojava, PYD Challenges".
  39. ^ a b "Analysis: YPG - the Islamic State's worst enemy".
  40. ^ "Western "comrades" join Kurds, Arabs, secularists, Yezidis, and Syriac Christians against Islamic State".
  41. ^ http://www.biehlonbookchin.com/poor-in-means/
  42. ^ a b http://diclenews.com/en/news/content/view/436354
  43. ^ "Kurds Fight Islamic State to Claim a Piece of Syria". The Wall Street Journal.
  44. ^ "Syrian Kurds risk their lives crossing into Turkey". Middle East Eye. 2014-12-29. Retrieved 11 January 2015.
  45. ^ a b "Efrîn Economy Minister: Rojava Challenging Norms Of Class, Gender And Power". 2014-12-22.
  46. ^ "Control of Syrian Oil Fuels War Between Kurds and Islamic State". The Wall Street Journal. 23 November 2014.
  47. ^ "Flight of Icarus? The PYD's Precarious Rise in Syria" (PDF). International Crisis Group.
  48. ^ "Zamana LWSL".
  49. ^ Gold, Danny (31 October 2010). "Meet the YPG, the Kurdish Militia That Doesn't Want Help from Anyone". Vice. Retrieved 9 October 2014.
  50. ^ van Wilgenburg, Wladimir (5 April 2013). "Conflict Intensifies in Syria's Kurdish Area". Syria Pulse. Al Monitor. Retrieved 9 October 2014.
  51. ^ "YPG's Mandatory Military Service Rattles Kurds". 27 August 2014.
  52. ^ "Meet America's newest allies: Syria's Kurdish minority". CNN.
  53. ^ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-l-phillips/research-paper-isis-turke_b_6128950.html?utm_hp_ref=tw
  54. ^ "Build Kurdistan relationship or risk losing vital Middle East partner".
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