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The NYT piece is absurd, the bulk is the "analysis" of representatives of a London-based neocoervative think tank. Further spin is provided by a quote from a Turkish journalist accusing thePKK of being enforces for Assad,which is pure slander. I am not sure what the article is meant to prove, pother than the NYT will print rubbish. On Thu, 13 Sep 2018 at 10:38, Louis Proyect via Marxism < marxism@lists.csbs.utah.edu> wrote: > ******************** POSTING RULES & NOTES ******************** > #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. > #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. > #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. > ***************************************************************** > > On 9/12/18 8:17 PM, Chris Slee via Marxism wrote: > > ******************** POSTING RULES & NOTES ******************** > > #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. > > #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. > > #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. > > ***************************************************************** > > > > > > > https://www.greenleft.org.au/content/syria-assad-threatens-idlib-while-afrin-resists-turkish-occupation > > > > From the article above: > > "In July 2012, an uprising occurred in three predominantly Kurdish > cantons known collectively as Rojava in the Kurdish language. People > surrounded the Assad regime’s military bases and called on the soldiers > to surrender. In most cases, they did so. With regime forces stretched > by fighting rebels on multiple fronts, those who resisted were quickly > defeated." > > So what were the military bases that the Kurds surrounded and called > upon soldiers to surrender? I seem to have trouble finding a reference > to anything like that in Lexis-Nexis. Mostly, I find tons of references > to Assad abandoning territory to Kurds in order to focus on killing the > rebels that you people consider so politically backward compared to the > acolytes of Murray Bookchin. I admit that I have not read all the > hundreds of articles about Kurds and Assad in 2012 but the first 25 or > so read like this: > > NY Times, April 19, 2012 > Kurds sit out the fighting in Syria; Long-oppressed group with hope of > nation-state fears joining losing side > By J. MICHAEL KENNEDY > > The Kurds of Syria, long oppressed by the government of President Bashar > al-Assad, are largely staying out of the fighting that has gone on for > more than a year in their country, hedging their bets as they watch to > see who will gain the upper hand. > > Mr. Assad has made major efforts to keep them out of the fray, aware > that their support for the opposition could prove decisive. He has > promised that hundreds of thousands of Kurds will be given citizenship, > something the ruling Assad family has denied them for nearly half a > century. > > The Kurds have other reasons for holding back: The opposition movement > in Syria is made up in large part by the Muslim Brotherhood and Arab > nationalists, two groups that have little sympathy for Kurdish rights, > and the Kurds cling to their long-sought goal of a Kurdish state. > > ''Syrian Kurds are, by and large, sitting out this dance,'' said > Jonathan C. Randal, the author of a widely respected book on the Kurds - > the largest ethnic group in the world without a state. Yet a recent > report by the Henry Jackson Society, a foreign policy research institute > in London, describes the Kurds as a ''decisive minority'' in the Syrian > revolution and says their support would help in a ''rapid overthrow in > the Assad regime.'' > > The Kurds, who make up about 10 percent of the country's population, > find themselves in something of a dilemma. If the revolution against Mr. > Assad succeeds, their passive role will give them less of a say in how > the country is ruled. But they also fear that any future government will > be much more Islamist than the secular Assad government. > > As Michael Weiss, a spokesman for the institute, said, ''The Kurds don't > want to join something that will lose.'' > > That is not surprising, given the history of oppression of the Kurdish > people, not only in Syria but also in Turkey, Iraq and Iran, the four > countries that intersect the traditional Kurdish region, much of it > rugged mountain terrain. > > In the past, they have been denied language, culture and any sort of > national identity in those countries, though major changes have been > made in oil-rich northern Iraq since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein. > > The history of their poor treatment in Syria is lengthy. But the most > notable event took place in 1962, when 120,000 Kurds had their > citizenship denied on the grounds they were not born in Syria. Today, > that number has roughly doubled because of descendants who cannot lay > claim to citizenship. > > In 1973, Syria began creating an ''Arab belt'' in northern Syria, > confiscating Kurdish land and giving it to Arabs. > > In 2004, Syrian security forces used live ammunition after clashes broke > out between Kurds and Arabs at a soccer match in the northern Syrian > town of Qamishli, killing at least 30 and wounding more than 160. After > rioters burned down the local Baath Party headquarters and toppled a > statue of former President Hafez al-Assad, hundreds of Kurds were arrested. > > Besides the banning of the Kurdish language and books from schools, > celebrations like Nowruz - the traditional Kurdish New Year - were long > prohibited in Syria. > > As part of his effort to appease the Kurds, Mr. Assad pledged that he > would grant citizenship to about 200,000 stateless Kurds as protests > were spreading - a promise he has yet to make good on. > > Mr. Weiss, the institute spokesman, said it was Kurdish protests at the > government in early 2011 that first alarmed the Assad government, which > little realized that an uprising was to follow in other parts of Syria. > ''At first, Assad just thought he had a Kurdish problem on his hands,'' > he said. > > Gokhan Bacik, the director of the Middle East Strategic Research Center > at Zirve University in Gaziantep, Turkey, said the Syrian Kurds were > fragmented among many political parties, making it all the more > difficult for them to unite for any cause. > > But even though the Kurds as a whole do not want to jeopardize the > long-term goal of a nation-state, he said, they are keeping their own > counsel. > > ''There is a nascent idea of a Kurdish nation,'' he said. ''They don't > want to risk this process. For them, the major point is long-term > survival in better conditions.'' > > The Kurdish National Council, a bloc of Kurdish parties, walked out of a > meeting in Istanbul last month of the Syrian National Council, an > organization that has come to represent the rebellion in exile. They did > so because the Islamist-dominated Syrian group refused to include > wording about the rights of Kurds. > > The Kurds have said they are seeking constitutional recognition, > compensation for their suffering and a federal government, as well as > the removal of the word ''Arab'' from Syria's official name: the Syrian > Arab Republic. > > The Kurds of Syria are hardly operating in a vacuum, with neighboring > Turkey and Iraq also involved.In Iraq, Masoud Barzani, the president of > the semiautonomous Kurdish north, has been an active supporter of the > Kurdish National Council. Turkey, meanwhile, has tried to act as the > interlocutor for the Syrian National Council and the role the Kurds > play. But that has its own set of pitfalls because the Kurds remain > suspicious of Turkey, which has treated its own Kurdish population poorly. > > A wild card in all this is the Kurdistan Workers Party, or P.K.K., a > well-armed and well-trained militia that has been designated a terrorist > organization by the United States. In Syria, the group has allied itself > with the Assad government, which could use it to stir up tensions along > the Turkish border, should Mr. Assad see the need. > > In the past, Syria armed and protected the P.K.K. in its long campaign > against Turkey, though that assistance cooled when relations between the > countries began improving little more than a decade ago. The group has > already threatened to turn all Kurdish areas in the region into a ''war > zone'' if Turkey crosses the border to intervene in the Syrian crisis. > > A Turkish journalist, Serdar Alyamac, who has specialized in Kurdish > issues, said the group would also serve as an enforcer for Mr. Assad in > the Kurdish regions of Syria. > > ''Assad naturally wants to use the P.K.K. to control the area,'' he > said. ''Plus the P.K.K. is familiar with the area. It's a win-win > situation for Assad and the P.K.K., if it works.'' > > In the cluttered bazaar of this ancient city near the Syrian border, the > merchant who sells lipstick and face powder in his tiny stall tells the > story of the Syrian town of Afrin. > > Before the troubles began, he said, there was no school there. > > ''It's completely under the control of the Kurds,'' said the man, who > refused to give even his first name for fear of reprisal. ''The > government opened four schools for them, so it's quiet there. I know > because four of my children live in Afrin and I call them all the time.'' > > At another stall, a cloth merchant named Nouri reached into his pocket > and took out his cellphone, which he used to pull up pictures of the > refugee camp housing more than 9,000 Syrians just outside the city. A > Kurd, he has been working part time as an interpreter from Arabic to > Turkish for the refugees. > > The shots show white, boxy prefab units, one of the two mosques in the > camp and the beginning of a children's playground. > > ''In the camps, there are some Kurds,'' he said. ''But if you ask them > if they are Kurds, they always say no. And they always speak Arabic, not > Kurdish. They are frightened because they think Turkish people will > believe they are from the P.K.K.'' > > > > _________________________________________________________ > Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm > Set your options at: > http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/stuartmunckton%40gmail.com -- www.greenleft.org.au * subscribe <https://www.greenleft.org.au/subscribe/details> * donate <https://www.greenleft.org.au/donate/details> _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
