Syrian Kurdish leader says 'nation state' no longer an objective

Rudaw

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region-- The leader of the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) in Syria says time has expired for the so called nation state and that his party aspires to set up a democratic state based on respect for "all participating nations and religions."

 

“The most stable countries tried to get rid of the nation state and work towards a federal system, like the United Kingdom and Spain, where you have the issue of Scotland, Ireland and the Basque country,” Salih Muslim said in an interview with the Syrian Kurdish website, Ara News.

“Our idea is not to build a nation state but to establish federalism in Syria including all components,” Muslim added. “But it will be a secular federalism.”

Muslim's comments came only days after a senior official with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) criticized the "Rojava Federal System" and said the PKK would prefer the Kurdish enclave be called "the Federal Northern Syria."

 

"We have criticized the application of the opinion and the way it was declared as well as the term 'Rojava' [the west in Kurdish]," said PKK leader Reza Altun during an interview with the Lebanese Safir newspaper regarding the declaration of Kurdish Federal Region in Syria earlier this year.

 

"Rojava is a geographic entity within Syria. The declaration should have been different. We were against the way the federal system was announced," Altun said.

 

Heavily influenced by the PKK, the PYD has adopted the so-called “democratic self-rule” with semi-independent administrations as a model for its Rojava entity.

 

It has largely rejected the notion of a nation state as flawed and inadequate. Both parties however, faced tough opposition and criticism within the broader Kurdish political movement that is generally perceived as more nationalist and patriotic.  

 

“We are not looking for separation, but Kurdish rights and a democratic Syria. Until now the Assad regime hasn’t recognized us. They should recognize the Kurdish people for any agreement,” Muslim added.