KURDISH CONFERENCE IN ERBIL / HEWLER – SYRIA THIS WEEK

Saeed also said, “Since the Syrian opposition — SNC — is supported by Turkey and some Arab countries, we wanted to convey a message that we also have the support of the government of Iraqi Kurdistan.”

04/02/2012 RUDAW – By ADIB ABDULMAJID – Amsterdam – Arab League Secretary-General Nabil el-Araby and Qatar’s Prime Minister Hamad Bin Jasem al-Thani  urged the UN Security Council last week to take decisive action to end the violence in Syria and to support an Arab initiative for embattled Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad to relinquish power.  Elaraby urged the council to take “rapid and decisive action,” adding that Arab nations are attempting to avoid foreign military intervention in the 11-month-old Syrian uprising. Qatar Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassim al-Thani warned the 15-nation body that Syria’s “killing machine is still at work.” “Our efforts and initiatives to seek a solution with Assad have all been useless because the Syrian government failed to make any sincere effort to cooperate with us and the only solution available to it was to kill its own people.”

Kurds also supported the Syrian popular demand for an international intervention to end the regime violence against civilians in the Syrian Kurdish conference in Erbil. The conference was held January 28-29 in Erbil, and was sponsored by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).

Opening the unprecedented conference, Kurdistan Region President Massoud Barzani stressed “peaceful methods and dialogue” as ways to find a fair solution for the Kurdish issue in Syria. “We want to support you in your struggle to find a solution for the Kurdish issue in Syria as brothers, by giving you the opportunity to make your own decisions, but we want you to use dialogue as the main method in your struggle,” he said. “We have suffered as Kurds for a long period, but the time now is time of freedom for nations in the whole region and Kurds are also a part of this pro-liberation movement.” Barzani added, “We want you to unify your Kurdish discourse and work together as Kurds and to put your parties’ problems aside because Kurdish people need you now as never before; your unified political discourse is our condition to support you.”

The conference crystallized the level of awareness of Kurdish politicians and activists regarding the Kurdish issue in Syria and Kurds’ demands.  Fuad Hussein, Chief of Staff of the Kurdistan Region Presidential Office, described the Erbil conference as important and said it dealt with “very essential issues, both on the Syrian political level generally and also the Kurdish level by discussing the current uprising and the possible scenarios in a post-Assad era, especially regarding the Kurdish people.”

The leader of the Kurdish National Council, Abdulhakim Bashar, said, “We are basically seeking political support from the KRG. In the future, Kurds in Syria will try to play a positive role even in solving Arab-Arab problems in the country, similar to the way President Barzani’s government acts in Iraq.”  Bashar told Asharq al-Awsat newspaper on Wednesday, “The Kurdish area in Syria is witnessing large anti-regime protests, but the Arab media is not covering the Kurdish movement the way it does other parts in Syria. We are in continuous contact with Syrian opposition groups, and in every meeting we are trying to reach agreements on some controversial matters.” Soyar Saeed, a Syrian Kurdish activist in the Netherlands and a member of the Erbil conference, told Rudaw that the conference was an “important regional message” that Kurds are well-organized and can achieve Kurdish rights after the fall of Assad regime.  Saeed added in an interview with Rudaw, “The Erbil conference was an extension of the Qamishlo conference on October 26, 2011, because we are a part of the Kurdish popular movement inside Syria and all of our efforts basically serve Kurdish demands. Besides, it has been a good opportunity for all of the Kurdish politicians and activists abroad to participate together in a program and share each others’ thoughts, which unifed the Kurdish political discourse. The conference has played a role in solving different problems between Kurdish parties.”

Saeed also said, “Since the Syrian opposition — SNC — is supported by Turkey and some Arab countries, we wanted to convey a message that we also have the support of the government of Iraqi Kurdistan.” The chief of the Kurdish negotiating team on the Syrian National Council, Abdulhamid Darwish, attended the Erbil conference and emphasized that the “Kurdish issue in Syria is one of the main Syrian national issues, which has to be solved within the framework of the country.”

Darwish told Al-Jazeera, “I want to reassure Arabs inside and outside Syria that the Kurdish issue is a part of the public national issue in Syria, and when those issues are solved, the Kurdish question will also be fairly and equally solved.” Darwish said, “The Kurdish National Council’s relationship with the Syrian National Council is good, as are our relationships with the other Syrian opposition bodies. We are looking forward to working with the other opposition bodies… to find solutions for all the national questions and to put an end to the era of persecution and dictatorship.”