
26/07/2012 06:02:00 By ADIB ABDULMAJID
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands – The Kurdish Supreme Committee – a coalition of the Kurdish National Council (KNC) and the People’s Council of Western Kurdistan – held its first meeting since Kurdish areas in Syria were liberated from the regime.
Held in Qamishli on Tuesday, the meeting discussed the recent developments in the Kurdish areas and their future in a post-Assad era.
Sinem Khalil, a member of the Kurdish Supreme Committee, said that the meeting represented the practical implementation of the agreement signed earlier this month between the KNC and the Democratic Union Party (PYD) in Erbil.
“The Kurdish people in Syria are thirsty for unity that will help achieve their aspirations, and that is our main focus now,” Khalil said. “The current stage of this revolution is very sensitive, and what we have achieved so far in the Kurdish areas in Syria proves the level of responsibility reached between the different Kurdish factions.”
He added, “I believe that our Kurdish dream is coming true.”
Following the withdrawal of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces from a number of Kurdish areas, more than six towns were declared liberated, including Kobane, Efrin, Amude, Derek, Girke Lege and Dirbesiye. The Kurdish flag was raised on government buildings in these areas.
But the Kurdish liberation movement has been criticized by both Kurdish and Arab politicians.
In a press conference on Monday, Abdulbasit Sieda, a prominent Kurdish politician and president of the Syrian National Council (SNC), accused some Kurdish factions – particularly the Democratic Union Party (PYD) and the KNC – of cooperating with the Syrian regime in order to take over Kurdish parts of Syria.
“The areas where these Kurdish factions have raised their flags are those Bashar al-Assad gave to them,” Sieda said, minimizing the achievement of Syrian Kurds.
Sieda added that the Kurds have been a main participant in the ongoing pro-democracy revolution in Syria. “But some sides have their own agenda which does not serve the Syrian national issue,” he said.
Sieda’s statements angered many Kurdish activists in Syria.
Taha Alhamid, a Kurdish member of the Syrian Journalists Association, described Sieda’s remarks as “careless” at a time when different elements of Syrian society are trying to entrench themselves in their areas to preserve their rights and receive support.
“Mr. Sieda’s statements show his carelessness about the future of the Kurdish people in Syria and the kind of persecution and discrimination this future might hold for Kurds who are struggling against the tyrannical regime of Assad on the one hand, and the chauvinistic and Salafist opposition on the other,” Alhamid wrote.
According to Alhamid, Sieda is turning a blind eye to the control the Salafists and Jihadists have on a large area of the country, and “criticizing the Kurdish achievement of liberating and protecting” their areas.
http://www.rudaw.net/english/news/syria/5004.html