THE KURDS OF SYRIA
By Anne Sofie Schøtt, Teaching Associate Professor, PhD Student, Royal Danish Defence College
From the Forgotten People to World-Stage Actors.
DANISH DEFENCE
2017
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Before 2011 the Syrian Kurds were referred to as the ‘forgotten Kurds’ (Yildiz 2005; Gunther 2014) since they attracted very little attention from researchers and public media prior to the civil war.
he Syrian civil war placed the Syrian Kurds on the regional map as they managed to occupy and control some of the northern parts of the country. hey even sparked global interest when they proved to be the most efective and loyal Middle Eastern allies to the American-led coalition against the Islamic State on the Syrian front of the battle (IISS 2016, 310). How did the Kurds of Syria mobilise around a Syrian Kurdish identity worth taking up arms and ighting for? In other words, how did the ‘forgotten Kurds’ suddenly become ‘memorable’? his paper will trace the development of a Syrian Kurdish political identity and point to at least three factors crucial to understanding the mobilisation of the Syrian Kurds. First, the territory which became the state of Syria ater the great wars of the 20th century hosts many ethnic (i.e. Arabs, Kurds, Turkmen and Assyrians) and religious groups (Muslims, Christians, Alawites, Ismailis and Druze). he Kurds themselves do not form a homogeneous group either, but are fragmented along territorial and demographic cleavages. Second, these fragmentations have inspired diferent regimes in Syria to pursue a policy of ambiguous repression of the Kurds.
his regime strategy has meant that the Kurds have been deprived of essential rights and been utilised as proxies towards the neighbouring countries, primarily the Republic of Turkey. hird,
the Syrian Kurds have mainly employed a strategy of peaceful action and moderate policy (Tejel 2009, 5). he politically engaged Kurds have chosen complicity with the regime rather than rebellion, contrary to other parts of the Kurdish homeland (i.e. in Turkey, Iraq and Iran). hus, it is noteworthy how the Syrian forces in connection with the current crisis in Syria withdrew from the Kurdish areas in 2012 before the YPG took control. It is also worth noting that the main enemy of the YPG is not the regime, but the Islamic State and other rebel groups.