​​​​​​​PYD… 19 of the struggle for historical achievements of Kurds and all Syrians

Today marks the 19th anniversary of the founding of the PYD Democratic Union Party. Founded on 20 September 2003, the party passed through major stations in 19 years of political mobility at the Kurdistan and Syrian levels, with significant support from Kurdistan, Syrian and Western communities.

The Democratic Union Party has great importance both internally and externally, for its leadership in organizing society and propelling it to self-protection, and for offering solutions to issues with every political-military development, in the context of the international interest-based conflict, notably the draft AANES model that emerged from the party's project, based on its previous Kurdish uprisings and revolutions.

The party was also established to counter the Damascus Government's policy of suppressing Kurdish political movements, pushing for the starvation of Kurds and the displacement of them from their territory, 5 years after the Government of Damascus signed the Adana Agreement with the Turkish Government 1998

Reasons for founding the party

The co-chair of Democratic Union Party PYD, Saleh Muslim, refers in detail to the necessity of establishing the party, including social and political conditions: "At that time, in 2003, there was a popular base in Rojava, in addition to the families of fighters engaged in the fighting forces in the Kurdistan Mountains, in need of an integral ideology to produce the political and social movement of the Kurdistan freedom movement that emerged in the region during the 1980s and the ideology of leader Ocalan during his presence in Lebanon and Syria."

As for the political conditions that had been called for the establishment of the party, he said: "There was an urgent need to rise up and lead the Kurdistan revolution, under the Syrian regime's agreement with Turkey to end the Kurds, and our experience in which we tried to establish the 1998 organization, which was not allowed to continue due to the tyranny of the Syrian regime."

Despite its recent birth, the party had a clear imprint on the Qamishlo uprising that followed its establishment only five months later, on 12 March 2004, owing to its popular base, its rapid movement to organize society socially and politically to thwart the Damascus Government's policy of stifling Kurdish-Arab discord, to increase its dominance in Kurdish areas and to take more arbitrary action towards the Kurds.

The party's role in foiling Ba 'ath plans to strike Arabs and Kurds together

On the role of the party during the 2004 Qamishlo uprising, Muslim said, "At the time the party was only 5 months old, so it was an actual examination of the party to consider its willingness to do so, which was surprising, and how much it could lead a peaceful political movement."

"In fact, there was a popular ready to reach freedom, but they needed leadership. And what happened at the time did not take into account the conditions in Iraq that had been overrun by the United States of America. in particular, the Kurdish-feared Syrian regime, given the Kurdish Americans' support in Iraq as it enters Iraq for that Syrian regime at the time was looking for a plot to suppress Kurds and to increase their dominance in Kurdish areas.”

"We were not prepared to confront this conspiracy, which was planned against the Kurds, but we were forced to fight against it and fight against it. We only had to lead the popular struggle against it. It was not planned in advance by us, but we sought to organize the people and protect the people from oppression of the Syrian regime, and to keep them from falling foul."

Saleh Muslim pointed out that all political parties, including the Government of Damascus, accused the party of being behind the intifada "then everyone accused our party of being behind what was going on, but the intifada stemmed from the spirit of struggle and its right to defend itself that the people had as a result of the Kurdistan freedom movement.”

The party made great sacrifices in response to this policy of the Damascus Government, as no one from its party cadres in Kurdish areas escaped arrest and psychological and physical torture in Damascus Government detention centres.

After 2011

Saleh Muslim stated that the party is the first thing we have learned is the need to organize the people so that they can protect themselves. On the other hand, we have come to the conviction that the people need to have protection in the light of what we have spoken of from the agreement of the Syrian and Turkish regime to end the Kurds and the repressive practices of the parties against the Kurdish people. "

"During the uprising, groups were formed to protect citizens in secret. We did not stand behind their formation, but we were familiar with their work. Those groups and units formed at the time have benefited from their experience of YPG's birth in the Syrian crisis. and the organization on which we worked during that period in organizational terms from the formation of councils and so forth was subsequently utilized during the Syrian crisis, the foregoing has been built on and these tests have been taken advantage of until we have reached the system now in place in the region. "

"Before the Syrian movement, we were following the general situation in other Arab countries, drawing lessons from them, we were sure that Syria would see a movement similar to that of some other countries, and we were worried that the conflict would be on power.

Line 3

He added: "For our part, we avoided all this and took the third line, because we were one of the most organized and prepared in the country for it, Based on the inheritance of our mobility in the country before the start of the Syrian movement And that's what distinguished us and our regions from the other parties, As attacks on the area began, there was preparations for the construction of a protection force have not been the level of readiness and weapons it possesses, but have been in a spirit of struggle and patriotism.”

Democratic Union Party and the July 19^th Revolution

The party contributed to the side of other political parties and blocs in Rojava, beginning with the areas of North and East Syria, in preventing civil war and pushing the peoples of the region to AANES, through the party's self-management model based on the Democratic Nation project of leader Abdullah Ocalan.

Saleh Muslim pointed out that the party had not moved to respond reciprocally after 2011, to what the Kurds faced during the 2004 Qamishlo uprising, to avoid the discord that was primarily sought by the then Damascus Government. In contrast, the Government of Damascus has taken action to reduce the Arab component's exploitation of the Arab component of its movement against other components. By reaching out to all Arab political parties and clans, to address attempts to create sedition and fighting between the two components (Arabs and Kurds) in the region since 2004.

At the Kurdistan level, PYD is struggling to unite the Kurdish ranks at the internal level in Rojava, as well as in Kurdistan, through ongoing appeals, which are reflected in the PYD’s internal system of supporting the democratic liberation struggle in Kurdistan society and achieving and consolidating Kurdistan's national unity on the principle of democratic community confederation.

Unifying Kurd ranks is a priority

On the party's position, Saleh Muslim saying: "Since the establishment of the party, one of its main priorities has been the unification of the Kurdish class, since 2004 in the first exam of our party we have not moved away from the Kurdish political parties, and we have been trying to get close to all the other Kurdish political parties despite their accusation of our party and their negative consent, and yet we have reached out to everyone and our dialogue to unify our position, despite all the regime's attempts to move the parties away from our party.

"Even after 2011, we moved and were ready to unite the Kurdish class, we were present as a participating Kurdish party. On May 14, 2011, 12 Kurdish political parties came out in the region with a consolidated statement on Syria's experience. We played a leading role to get to this kind of event in the founding of the Kurdish National Council, we had a role in its founding, but when those parties abandon elections to select Council members, we refused to continue to do so, because we represent the people, the people reflect on their trust, and what they propose is far from the aspirations of the people.”

Muslim asserted that the party is still seeking to unify the Kurdish position in Rojava, as well as in Kurdistan "We continue to strive for this at the Rojava level. At the Kurdistan level, we have seen other Kurdish parties only as friendly and supportive. We have not called any of those parties’ terrorist, and we will never describe them, despite the hostility of some of our party, as always we are able to agree on some matters."

'We did not block our doors against any Kurdistan Party '

He added: "We have not blocked our doors against any Kurdistan party, we may criticize some parties because of different ideologies, they may criticize us but they do not reach the level of hostility. Besides, all Kurdistan institutions advocating unity of Kurds and Kurdistan are involved and we will continue our efforts as much as possible to reach unity of Kurds."

At the social level, the party aims to achieve a political and ecological moral society and women's freedom, to achieve gender equality and social justice, and to fulfil brotherhood among peoples and ethnicities within the framework of the Free Voluntary Union, based on a democratic nation.

At the Syrian political level, he is fighting for "the democratization of Syria on the basis of the principle of fraternity of peoples, for a just democratic solution to the Kurdish issue in Syria within the framework of a democratic consensus constitution, for the consolidation of the system of democratic decentralization in  North and East Syria on the basis of Democratic Autonomous Administrations and its dissemination throughout Syria with the aim of achieving democratic decentralization, liberation of occupied territories and return of displaced persons."

Party after 9th Congress

On the party's vision and objectives for the future of Syria and the region, and on what emerged from the last conference, after 19 years of political movement of the party, and any change in its political vision, Saleh Muslim said: "There are no radical changes in the political vision or objectives of the party, our goal is clear, our goal is AANES, and decentralization of Syria."

"We will also continue to take our place in the political configurations in North and East Syria to resolve the Syrian crisis. and we will continue to support AANES because in the party we see ourselves as the mother of existing AANES, mistakes in the implementation of AANES on the ground it would be confronted, our party's enormous popular base in the region the number of members of our Party has reached approximately 25 thousand.”

PYD is distinct from other political parties, blocs and formations in Syria and the world, in terms of chairing the party, branches and offices, and even its committees, adopting a system of co-chairmanship in its organizational and administrative affairs, based on women's freedom and a free and essentially gender-neutral life, which is reflected in the pradigma adopted in the internal party system of "building a political moral society and access to freedom"

The system of chairmanship within the Party has affected civil society institutions and Kurdish political parties, even Syriac, within Rojava, and recently in North and East Syria, as well as the system of administration within AANES, as the majority of the AANES committees, bodies and boards in cities, cantons and the region rely on the system of co-chairmanship.

Saleh Muslim, the party's choice of this system, returns the party to Pradigma, saying: "The philosophy of our party considers youth and women the foundations of party building, why youth? youth throughout history are the engine of societies, women because they have been subjected to all forms of slavery, slavery has begun to be imposed on women, and women are emancipated because they are the fundamental pillar of society.”

"Accordingly, because women have a right, during our first conference in Rojava in 2012, the party shifted from presidency to co-chairmanship, to considering women able to manage and lead society, and to demonstrate to societies that we seek to emancipate women, and what we have witnessed throughout the lifetime of the Rojava Revolution has demonstrated women's ability to manage and lead communities."

"This system has become an example. The administration in North and East Syria is being managed through this system now, and it has even opened up the space for gender equality, the equality we are witnessing in our society."

T/ Satt.

ANHA

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