On independence anniversary ... what are Syrians' options as occupation is back?

“My countrymen… this is a day when the bright sun of freedom shines on your homeland, and only your flag flies high in it… This is the day of truth, when only its word resounds, and on Independence Day, its glory is revealed, a day, when, the falsehood witnesses how his state disappears. How will his tour diminish? This is the day of the great victory and the clear conquest. "

With these words, the Syrian President, Shukri al-Quwatli, addressed the masses of Syrians at the time, congratulating them on the independence of Syria and the Evacuation of the French forces from it, after nearly 26 years of occupation.

The international conditions following the Second World War in 1945 helped the Syrians achieve their independence, as the United Nations Organization supported the independence and unity of Syria, by the majority of the members, and thus Syria celebrated day for the first time on April 17, 1946 during the presidency of Shukri Al-Quwatli .

Post-independence era

But al-Quwatli, along with the Syrians, did not know that the country's conditions might be seen by some as worse than the French colonialism.

A Syrian spring, followed the independence phase, and political life revived in Damascus and the rest of the Syrian cities. People began to circulate political terms such as democracy, justice, freedom of expression, and the parliamentary system, and little by little, political parties began to form on the ruins of the national bloc that was divided among each other after leading the negotiations and revolutions.

In 1947, parliamentary elections were held, but strong divisions took place between political groupings, and regional tendencies of sharpening interests surfaced. The Damascenes' leaders gathered in a coalition in order for them to take power. The North held alliances, including what is in the pipeline for the Damascus Alliance, and so on, and to a lesser degree in the rest of the provinces.

However, this did not last long, as the "National Action League" contributed to laying the intellectual and organizational foundations for radical Arabism, as described by many experts, on which the Ba'ath Party developed itself.

And as a result, the stage of coups began in Syria, until the Baath Party took on power. Later, Syria gradually turned into a nation-state ruled by one party.

The national and sectarian mobilization by the Baath Party in Syria, over time, led to the division in society, and despite the tightened security and military grip, this did not prevent the uprisings, most notably the events of Hama in 1982, Palmyra prison, and Qamishlo uprising in 2004.

These problems accumulated until 2011, when the Syrian revolution broke out, but soon the greedy countries exploited them, and Russia and Iran took advantage of the weakness of the Damascus government, while Turkey used the so-called Syrian opposition to occupy more Syrian lands.

Colonialism and tyranny ... swapping roles.

This led to the occupying powers sharing influence in the Syrian regions, and about that, the director of the Kurd Without Borders Center, Kadar Beri, said: "The end of the occupation means freedom, dignity, rights and equality. The end of the occupation means no injustice, no oppression, no hunger, no poverty."  

He added, "But after the Evacuation, successive regimes in Syria and the Ba'ath’s domination of a dictatorial family mafia system, nothing has changed, and it may have been a switch of roles, an occupation in a new form that is more repressive than the French occupation itself. Regimes changed and the situation never changed."

“the regime made us regret the departure of the last soldiers of the French colonialists from Syria,” he said.

Many occupations

On the post-Syrian crisis, Beri said: “At the beginning we looked good at the slogans that were raised, but after a short while, it became clear that there were those who managed to steal our revolution to turn into a state of conflict for control of government, it is no longer a revolution. Rather, terrorist groups that just want to control the government. "

He added: "The regime also does not care what the alternatives will be and how much sacrifices will be. The slogans that the regime used to raise in terms of sovereignty and dignity turned out to be only to deceive the Syrian people, and the goal is only for the mafia, family and one party to remain in power."   

He explained, "The regime has continued with this mentality to this day. We have found new occupations of the Syrian lands, there are those who consider their presence legitimate, such as the Russians and Iranians, under the pretext that they are present at the invitation of the regime, and the truth of the matter is a Russian and Iranian occupation with their affiliates from the groups that have come to control Syria."

Which occupations are the most dangerous?

He pointed out that "there is another more dangerous occupation, which is the Turkish, who also took its legitimacy from the agreements concluded between representatives of the regime, Russian or Iranian through Geneva, Astana and Sochi." Where the swap agreements were, when the regime agreed to swap the lands of Syria by controlling another region and expelling terrorist groups, this is not considered liberation, but rather giving legitimacy to another occupation, which is the Turkish whether in Idlib or Afrin and recently in Serêkaniyê and Tal Abyad.

He added in this context: "The regime bears the greatest responsibility for what is happening in Syria. We celebrate the anniversary of the evacuation, but the reality of this tyrannical dictatorial regime has entrenched occupations and not just the French occupation, and now we suffer from a Turkish occupation along its terrorist groups from all over the world, as well as an Iranian with all the groups under the Shiite community to deliver the Tehran - Baghdad - Damascus - Beirut line or their Shiite crescent slogan. "

Beri said: "But the seriousness of the matter comes through the Astana and Sochi agreements and the consolidation of the Turkish occupation, where we have bitter experiences with the Turkish occupation and Cyprus is the biggest example, and before that the Syria's the Iskenderun brigade where the demographic change in that region and a referendum was held." Later, the settlers in that area voted in favor of Turkey. "

And he warned: "This is what the Turkish occupation is doing now in Afrin, Girê Spî, Serêkaniyê, and these areas are a repeat of the Turkish experience of annexing parts of the Syrian lands, so we find it the most dangerous and the worst of all those on Syrian soil."

The mentality has not changed.

He did not express his optimism about the change of mentality of Damascus and Turkey, saying: “The regime will not stop its oppressive dictatorial mentality, its goal is to remain in power. What the regime has gone through with new elections with its areas under its control, which are roughly equivalent to half of the Syrian territory and less than half of the population of Syria. In the places of his control in order to choose Bashar al-Assad again. This is an affirmation of the division of Syria because in the end he agrees that a large part of the Syrians will remain outside these elections, so it means an official division of Syria.

He added: "The Turkish occupier has not changed his mentality, and we mentioned previously how it did in Iskenderun, Cyprus and currently in Syria in Afrin and the rest of the regions. He is continuing with the same mentality."

What are the Syrians' options to get rid of the occupations?

Regarding the options of the Syrians, he said: “To get rid of these occupations and to add to it in broad terms the occupation of Damascus by the corrupt mafia ruling clique, it is also an occupation that lies at the heart of the Syrian people. The unification of the forces of democratic opposition is the first salvation from these occupations, and that there be Syrian - Syrian dialogue between the emerging democratic forces in Syria, is a second point.

He added, "Their program of action must be to change the structure of the central regime, which ultimately means a dictatorial state. The change in the structure of this system means transforming us from a repressive central system to a decentralized democratic one. The basis for dialogue is that this common point is in order to get rid of these occupations and be a point of new independent in future of Syria. "

(A)

ANHA