Political spring flourished in North Syria after 19 July Revolution

RINAS REMO - QAMIŞLO

Political parties were established within modern Syria after the liberation of Syria from the Ottoman occupation. In 1932, the first party was founded on behalf of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party. The Arab Socialist Baath party was founded in Syria on 7 April 1947, after the evacuation of the French from Syria on April 17, in 1957, the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Party, the first Kurdish party in Syria, was established.

Political parties within Syria were politically semi-free in the period from 1947 to 1966 and after the Baath Party took power in Syria, it monopolized political activity within Syria, and prevented the other political parties from practicing freely, and thousands of political activists and hundreds of them were arrested, such as the assassination of the major general Mohammed Omran, in 1972 in Lebanon, to Wahid Bilous one of Druze sheikhs and opponent to the Syrian regime, was assassinated by the bombing of his motorcade in 2015.

Political activity in al-Jazeera region was completely banned during the rule of the Baathist regime in the region. Anyone who tried to engage in political activity outside the Baath Party was subject to arrest, exile and murder, such as the members of the Democratic Union Party Osman Dadli and Ahmad Hussein (Baffy Jodi) who were martyred in the Baathist regime prisons in 2004 after the Qamishlo revolt, so the political parties in the area were forced to engage in political activity in secret.

During the rule of the Baath Party, society has moved away from political life, although it is the container of all events and affects and is influenced by political decisions. This is the result of the Baath Party's one-party policy: "Either you are Baathist or you do not have the right to speak in politics."

The evolution of political life after the Revolution of 19 July

After the Revolution of 19 July in Rojava, political life began to flourish within the community and the offices of the Kurdish, Arab, Syriac, Assyrian and Yezidi political parties, each party exercised its political work within society and tried to find political decisions from the viewpoint of reality and society. Tirbespiyê district in Qamishlo canton is considered of the areas in which the political parties developed and multiplied, and after the 19July revolution they opened several offices of political parties within the district.

The administrator of the Democratic Unionist Party PYD Suleiman Hussein explained that political life is evolving day after day, after the announcement of Democratic Autonomous Administration DAA in Rojava and then civil administrations in north and east of Syria, as these administrations opened the way for all components to engage in political action to play effective role in society.

Suleiman explained that the political parties are raising the awareness of society, and explained that the opening of parties' offices of all components is evidence of the development and freedom of political life after years of political repression.

Women and politics

Women's role has been lacking in political life within Syria and the Middle East for centuries. In 1967, Syrian women formed a quasi-governmental organization called the General Federation of Syrian Women (GUSW), an alliance of women's social associations, educational associations, and voluntary councils aimed at equalizing opportunities for women in Syria. The union's work was limited to organizing some women who work only in government institutions (i.e, those holding diplomas only), and sponsored by the Syrian authorities.

However, women in Rojava and their influence on the struggle of women within the Kurdistan Freedom Movement was the first to form their organizations and institutions in Rojava after the 19 July revolution and affected by all the women within the region. Women began within the region to engage in political work among political parties in general, and within organization and movements which are particular for women as Kongra Star and Sara organization against Violence against Women and Syrian Women's Council.

Aliya Mousa the administrator in the Women's offices of the Democracy and Modernity Party said "Women have become a key player in political decision-making and are working freely within society at all levels,"

Aliya Moussa explained that political women in the region today hold meetings and activities for women in order to raise their awareness and mobilize women to make their political decisions and to give lectures on the social obstacles that prevented women from playing their natural role within society.

The Kurdistan’s Greens Party is one of the parties which existed in Tirbespiyê district, Kurdistan Democratic Union Party (PYD), the Arab National Body, Modernity and Democracy Party, the Democratic Conservative Party, the Kurdish Democratic Unity Party of Syria (YKTI), Kurdistan Democratic Union Party in Syria, and the Kurdistan Liberal Party and the Kurdish Democratic Union Party in Syria, and Kongra Star.

H/S

ANHA