Most Syrian Kurdish Parties Boycott Opposition Gathering

Members of Syrian opposition meeting in Istanbul. Photo ArabNews.

Kurdish parties largely boycotted a conference to unite Syria’s opposition in Istanbul last week, reflecting the deepening schism between the influential Muslim Brotherhood and Kurdish groups. 

The gathering, which aimed to create a diverse council to govern Syria in an interim period if President Bashar al-Assad’s regime falls, was marred by the absence of several key opposition groups including Syria-based activists and Kurdish leaders.

It was the latest in a series of meetings in Istanbul among mostly exiled Syrian opposition figures. While Kurds have been awarded a key demand – to be recognized as a distinct ethnic group in an interim constitution if the regime falls – the gatherings have also raised fears that Arab nationalists and Islamists are dominating the opposition.

Barzan Bahram, a Syrian Kurdish writer, accused the Muslim Brotherhood of controlling plans for Syria’s future and the opposition.

“The Muslim Brotherhood is trying to exploit the change that is about to take place in Syria for their own gain,” Bahram told Rudaw. “And the Turkish government is throwing its full support behind the Islamic groups to bring them to the forefront.”

He said the Istanbul conference, which Reuters reported was postponed so the groups could reach out to the Syria-based opposition, will not succeed. Bahram echoed claims by the Kurds and several other Syrian opposition groups that the Muslim Brotherhood is dominating preparations and the vision for Syria’s future.

“Any Syrian opposition conference will not succeed without an active participation of the Kurds,” Bahram said. “Also the opposition must take into consideration the location of the conferences.”

Shelal Gado, a leader in the Leftist Kurdish Party of Syria, told Rudaw that some Kurds may have attended the conference but did not represent an umbrella group of 11 Syrian Kurdish parties.

“If Turkey doesn’t give rights to its 25 million Kurds, how can it defend the rights of the Syrian people and the Kurds there?”

He said Syria’s Kurds will remain suspicious of any conference held in Turkey, arguing that Ankara has its own agenda on Syria and it is hosting conferences to try to drive a wedge between the already-fractured Syrian opposition.

“Turkey is against the Kurds…in all parts of the world,” Gado said. “If Turkey doesn’t give rights to its 25 million Kurds, how can it defend the rights of the Syrian people and the Kurds there?”

Despite the wider skepticism, some Kurdish parties attended the Istanbul gathering. The Kurdish Union Party and the Kurdish Freedom Party, both of which are members of the umbrella group of 11 Syrian Kurdish parties, attended the conference.

Abdulbaqi Yusuf, a leader of the Kurdish Union Party who attended the gathering in Istanbul told Rudaw, “The meeting was to discuss our position towards the Syrian regime.”

“The meeting was also to form a national assembly—an interim Parliament for the immediate period after the regime change,” he said.  “Parties with unclear positions on the regime will not take part.”

Yusuf dismissed claims that participating in the conference is dividing a Kurdish umbrella group of 11 parties. He also rejected the claim that Turkey has imposed its own agenda on the Syrian opposition.

“We did not feel any Turkish pressure in the meeting,” Yusuf said. “But as a major power in the region, without a doubt, Turkey has its own interests. We, the Kurds, managed to present the Kurdish demands.”

Yusuf said the main demand of the Kurdish 11-party assembly was the recognition of Kurds as the distinct ethnic group in Syria and addressing Kurdish concerns democratically.

“Both these demands were put in the interim constitution for after the regime change,” said Yusuf.