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PYD on Route to Dividing Syria

The draft constitution for a Kurdish state drew criticism from other Kurdish factions
PYD on Route to Dividing Syria

The draft constitution provided by the Democratic Union Party for what the party called “The Temporary Government for Western Kurdistan” includes all Kurdish cities in the north and northeast of Syria.

 

Other Kurdish parties in Syria were divided over supporting or opposing the project, or simply remained silent.

 

Then, the Syrian Kurdish National Council remedied the situation, declaring that the PYD had acted on its own and tried to impose its own vision as fact.  The Council said such a step was premature and would have important consequences for the Syrian Kurds.

 

The political movement of the Kurds is attempting to unify to confront PYD control on the ground. Unifying the Kurdistan Democratic Party – a process supported by the government of the Kurdistan of Iraq – would be an important part of these attempts.

 

On the other hand, the Kurdish Youth Coordination Committees refused the temporary government and the draft constitution on the basis of a lack of trust of the PYD, who they accuse of being agents for the Assad regime, especially after recent massacres against Kurds in Tal Ghazal and Amouda, and its targeting of opposition activists.

 

Some Syrian opposition forces expressed concern about the step saying it serves the regime and set a dangerous precedent.

 

The draft was also criticized by Kurdish Syrian intellectuals, writers and activists as well as other prominent Kurds who are dissatisfied with the level of manipulation by the PYD and its clear alliance with regime.

 

That prompted leader of PYD, Saleh Muslim, to delay the project during a meeting of the Coordination Commission. Muslim assured that "there is no intention to form a government or a separate state,” and confirmed that what is happening are merely “procedures carried out by some Kurdish leaders in the regions where the Nusra Front were ejected and came under control of the Kurds, to administer citizens’ affairs during the crisis.”

 

Translated and edited by The Syrian Observer

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