​​​​​​​What did Kurdish National Council do for Kurdish unity?

With the continued attempts to unify the Kurdish ranks and the Kurds' anticipation to achieve unity they have always waited for, there are those who always try to thwart any endeavor to achieve unity.

In this dossier, we will review the most important stages through which the efforts to unify the Kurds since the beginning of the movement in Syria in the spring of 2011 until the present time passed.

'First initiative'

With the beginning of the Syrian revolution, the first agreement between the Kurdish political parties in Syria was drawn up in a document that was agreed upon, under the name "The Kurdish National Movement Parties Initiative", in which the views of the parties joining the initiative for a solution presented, and announced in a mass gathering on May 14, 2011.

The document included the adoption of the principle and language of a comprehensive national dialogue among various national political trends and cultural elites that believe in dialogue as a way of understanding, and the release of all prisoners of conscience and political prisoners, and special political demands such as allowing political currents and parties representing segments of society to openly carry out their democratic activities until a modern party law is issued, abolishing all discriminatory policies, “secret decrees and circulars applied against the Kurdish people,” and urgently restoring citizenship to those who have been deprived of it, in addition to the registration of the Maktoumeen in the civil records as Syrian citizens, and giving the Kurdish regions the necessary attention in order to remove the effects of deliberate neglect, achieve the principle of equality similar to the rest of the regions, and the call for holding a comprehensive national conference without the domination of any party.

On June 6^th, 2011, some Kurdish parties announced that the President of the Syrian state called on some Kurdish parties to dialogue, and these parties were (the Kurdish Left Party in Syria; the Kurdish Democratic Party in Syria / Abdel Hakim Bashar Wing, the Kurdish Yekiti Party in Syria, the Democratic Union Party, the Kurdish Azadi Party in Syria, the Kurdish Democratic Party in Syria / Nasreddin Ibrahim Wing; the Kurdish Democratic National Party in Syria; the Kurdish Democratic Equality Party in Syria; the Kurdish Democratic Unity Party in Syria; the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Party; the Kurdish Progressive Democratic Party in Syria and the Future Movement.)

Bashar al-Assad’s call caused differences within the Kurdish parties, as the invitation was rejected by the Kurdish Coordination Committee on June 7^th through a statement. However, the parties of the “Coordination Committee did not reject the dialogue as a principle,” and they included (the Kurdish Azadi Party in Syria, the Kurdish Future Movement in Syria, and the Kurdish Yekiti Party in Syria).

'Foundation and split'

Amidst the rapid events in Syria, the Syrian Kurdish National Council was formed on October 26, 2011, in Hewlêr, under the auspices of Masoud Barzani who was the president of the Kurdistan Region at the time, after the formation of what is known as the Syrian National Council, and including 11 parties in the beginning, and observers believed that the formation of the Council came to torpedo "the initiative of the Kurdish National Movement parties" established on the homeland.

In May 2012, five other parties joined it, and it later shrank to reach its current form, including five parties in effect and is controlled by the Kurdistan Democratic Party.

The Kurdish National Council, as of May 2012, included sixteen Kurdish parties, as follows:

The Kurdish Left Party in Syria / Mohamed Musa.

The Kurdish Democratic Left Party in Syria / Saleh Keddo.

The Syrian Kurdish Democratic Party / Jamal Sheikh Baqi.

The three parties broke away from the Kurdish National Council and joined the Democratic Autonomous Administration after its establishment in Al-Jazira region on January 21, 2014.

The Kurdish Democratic Unity Party in Syria / Muhyiddin Sheikh Aali.

The Kurdish Democratic Party in Syria (Al-Party) / Nasreddin Ibrahim.

The Syrian Kurdish Democratic Accord Party / Fawzi Shankali.

The aforementioned three parties were separated from the Kurdish National Council in December 2014, following the Duhok agreement, because the three parties did not vote for the council’s agreed candidates within the council’s list in the process of forming the political reference, which we will speak about later.

The Kurdish Democratic Party in Syria (Al-Party) / Abdel Hakim Bashar.

The Kurdish Azadi Party in Syria / Khairuddin Morad Wing.

The Kurdish Azadi Party in Syria / Mustafa Osu Wing.

The Kurdish Yekiti Party in Syria / It was headed by Abdel Basit Hamo.

The four parties united under the name of the Kurdistan Democratic Party - Syria on May 3, 2014, during a conference known as the unification conference of the Kurdish Democratic Political Union in Syria, headed by Seud Al-Mulla.

The Kurdish Democratic Progressive Party in Syria which was led by Abdel Hamid Darwish emerged from the confines of the Kurdish National Council at the beginning of 2015, and indicated that its withdrawal was due to its own organizational and political considerations.

The remaining parties of the Kurdish National Council are:

The Kurdistan Democratic Party - Syria / Seud Al-Mulla.

The Kurdish Yekiti Party in Syria / Ibrahim Berro.

The Kurdish National Democratic Party / Taher Sefouk.

The Kurdish Democratic Equality Party / Nemat Daoud.

The Kurdish Reform Movement - Syria / Faisal Youssef.

'Undermining the Kurdish Supreme Authority'

After the establishment of the Kurdish National Council in Syria, it turned into a pawn at the hands of the Turkish occupation state, and undermined all efforts made to unify the Kurdish discourse, starting with the Supreme Kurdish Authority which was announced on July 12, 2012, between the Council of West Kurdistan and the Kurdish National Council in Hewlêr in Başûr Kurdistan under patronage of the former President of the Kurdistan Region, Massoud Barzani.

On July 24, 2012, the Supreme Kurdish Authority emanating from the two councils (the People's Assembly for Western Kurdistan and the Kurdish National Council in Syria) held its meeting, and the meeting resulted in 7 decisions, including: The Supreme Kurdish Authority leads all the activities and work of the two councils, and its decisions are binding on everyone.

'The first violation of the decisions of the Supreme Kurdish Authority'

The Kurdish National Council did not abide by the decisions of the Supreme Kurdish Authority, and met with Ahmed Davutoglu who was (Turkish Foreign Minister) in August 2012 under the auspices of the Kurdistan Regional Government, without reviewing the authority or the Council of West Kurdistan. The National Council of the Western Kurdistan Council did not disclose the content of the meeting, after which it met with a delegation from the Syrian National Council in private, and was followed by the signing of the members of the Foreign Relations Office of the Kurdish National Council a statement in Istanbul with parties to the so-called Syrian opposition without the knowledge of the other members of the office, followed by meetings and visit of the Kurdish National Council in isolation with the Turkish occupation state, and the so-called opposition, which formed a state of mistrust.

'The Transitional Interim Administration project for the Kurdish and joint regions

The Kurdish National Council has tried hard to torpedo any national project that serves the Kurdish cause and the components of the region, as both the Western Kurdistan Council and the Kurdish National Council announced an agreement on (the Transitional Interim Administration project for the Kurdish and joint regions) on August 13, 2013, and on October 08, 2013, a meeting was held at the headquarter of the Kurdish High Commission in the city of Qamishlo, in the presence of representatives of the two councils, and concluded with an agreement to sign the project which included 9 items.

While the transitional local administration project was discussed, the Kurdish National Council approved the document of joining the so-called National Coalition of Syrian Revolution and Opposition Forces, went to Qatar and participated in the so-called coalition conference there. On October 16, the so-called coalition approved the joining of the National Council, its accession was a clear violation of the Kurdish Supreme Authority and the Transitional Interim Administration project agreement, from which it withdrew at the last moment.

'Political reference'

The Kurdish political reference, which was established on October 22, 2014 after the (Duhok 2) meeting between the Democratic Society Movement (TEV-DEM) and the Kurdish National Council (ENKS) which included 5 items was not better than the Kurdish Supreme Commission, as despite all efforts, it failed as a result of the intransigence of the Kurdish National Council and introducing the quota idea.

The first item included the formation of a "Kurdish political reference made up of 30 members," provided that the proportions are 40% for the Kurdish Council, 40% for the Democratic Society Movement, and 20% for the parties and forces operating outside the two councils. However, the National Council argued that three parties within the same council voted for the list presented by the Democratic Society Movement, and expelled them from the council, and they are (Syrian Kurdish Accord / Fawzi Shankali, Kurdish Democratic Party in Syria / Nasreddin Ibrahim, Kurdish Democratic Unity Party in Syria-Yekiti / Muhyiddin Sheikh Aali). After that, efforts made for the sake of the political authority were undermined.

During the period from May 14, 2011 to the beginning of 2015, the regions of Rojava witnessed continued attacks, launched by the mercenaries of Jabeht al-Nusra in late 2012 on Serêkaniyê, and then on the southern areas of the Girkê Legê district, to Tel Koçer in the east and Tirbê Spiyê in the west, with direct support from the Turkish occupation state, then, ISIS mercenaries' attacks on the region and the Kobane canton in particular, and the council did not participate in the defense of the region, it did not even issue a statement regarding these attacks, but rather issued statements that distorted the resistance and gains of the Kurdish people and the rest of the peoples in the region.

With the beginning of 2014, the Kurdish National Council, whose leaders were based in Turkey, turned into a pawn at the hand of the Turkish occupation state, and received all its instructions directly from the Turkish occupation state.

'Interacting with Turkish intelligence'

On July 01, 2015, with Turkish orders, the Kurdish National Council adopted the Peshmerga Roj militias, and our agency published a file on August 31, 2019 entitled “How “ENKS” was established and what is the purpose of its establishment? Through which and reliable sources in Hewlêr, it revealed that the National Council, and in particular the leaders of the council who are outside Rojava, such as Ibrahim Berro, Kamiran Hajo, Abdel Hakim Bashar, Siamand Hajou, Abdel Basit Hamo and others have met with Turkish intelligence 16 times since 2016, in the cities of Deluc, Ankara and Istanbul, and they also met 12 times with officials of the Democratic Party intelligence in Hewlêr, in addition to 4 meetings with American officials, in particular on the issue of returning the Peshmerga gunmen to Rojava, who were trained by the Turkish intelligence at the Batova base of the city Iraqi Mosul.

'Legalization of the Turkish occupation'

On March 23, 2018, that is, days after the occupation of Afrin, Kamiran Hajo, Ibrahim Berro and Hawas Akid (Saadoun) met in Ankara with the advisor of the Turkish Foreign Ministry, Sedet Onal, responsible for the Syrian file in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and another person named Kaplan, and that meeting addressed in particular the strong relations between the National Council and the Turkish state, and the meeting included:

 “At the meeting, we assured the Turkish side that our relations with them are strategic, deep and long-term, and that any mistakes that might happen will not affect the future of our relations. We told them that the negative practices that took place in Afrin negatively affected Turkey, the Free Army and the Kurdish National Council, and we asked the Turks how will Afrin be administered and how will the nature of the participation of the National Council in this administration be? We told them, can the Rojava Peshmerga have a specific role in Afrin, even in small numbers at the beginning, we also asked them about their position towards the eastern Euphrates.”

It is noteworthy that the Kurdish National Council did not see the Turkish occupation state as an occupying state, but on the contrary legalized all its crimes through its continued declaration, in which it accused the Autonomous Administration of being a de facto administration, and the control over it is the Democratic Union Party, even after the occupation of the cities of Serêkaniyê and Girê Spî in October of 2019 by the Turkish occupation state, the Kurdish National Council continued its hostile policy towards the people of the region and the Autonomous Administration.

What is more is that the members of the Kurdish National Council always glorified the mercenaries of the Turkish occupation army. On November 19, 2020, the representative of the Kurdish National Council (ENKS) in the so-called coalition "Abdullah Keddo", accompanied by the leaders of the mercenaries of the Syrian Coalition, visited the occupied Afrin canton, and they toured the cemeteries of the mercenary leaders of the Turkish occupation, who committed the most heinous crimes against the people of Afrin, northern and eastern Syria, and claimed: “There are no violations in Afrin.”

'The last chapters of the Kurdish National Council'

In a new endeavor to unify the Kurdish ranks, the Commander-in-Chief of the Syrian Democratic Forces, Mazloum Abdi, launched an initiative to unify the Kurdish ranks in October 2019 following the Turkish attack on the regions of north and east Syria on October 9 of the same year, and the parties involved took good steps at the beginning, and they were welcomed by the public in Rojava and Kurdistan as well; however, these talks, and after the announcement of the end of the first phase and the consolidation of the common political visions, faced several obstacles which appeared by the Kurdish National Council which began to put forward its conditions again.

The conditions put forward by the Kurdish National Council that obstructed the Kurdish talks were its proposal (a condition) that the educational system in north and east Syria should be stopped, the curricula of the Damascus government should be re-taught, and the system of co-presidency in the Autonomous Administration institutions be abolished.

The Head of the Kurdistan Liberal Union, Ferhad Tilo, believes that the main reason behind the failure of the initiatives to unify the Kurdish ranks since 2011 until the present day is the Kurdish National Council which each time proposes new conditions, and said: “The Kurdish National Council always dictates the dictations of the Syrian National Coalition on us.”

D.H

ANHA