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Danny Gold
A new member of the Kurds' Popular Protection Units (YPG) stands in front of a crowd waving Kurdish flags in Qamishli, Syria. The Kurds are the largest ethnic group in the world without a homeland, totaling more than 30 million people.
DERIK, Syria -- From the roof of the new home he is building on the outskirts of the Kurdish controlled city of Derik in northeast Syria, Bashir Said Mohammad can count a dozen or so other structures in different stages of completion. "All this building has happened after the revolution," he says. "Before we were not able to build. You would go to the regime and they would say no, because we are in the Kurdish areas."
In the Kurdish areas of Syria, known as Rojava, people have wasted little time seizing on the opportunities a tentative retreat by President Bashar Assad's government forces three months ago has afforded them. But while a burgeoning civil society independent of Assad's regime continues to grow, the Kurds are desperately trying to avoid the devastating violence that has battered cities like Aleppo and Homs.
The Kurds are the largest ethnic group in the world without a homeland, totaling more than 30 million people. Spread out between parts of Iraq, Syria, Iran and Turkey, they have been subjected to decades of oppression aimed at erasing their cultural identity in all four regions. Kurds make up around 10 percent of the population in Syria, totaling about 2 million, but have been treated as second-class citizens for generations.
In July, Assad forces made a hasty retreat from a number of Kurdish cities and towns in northeastern Syria. Despite a few skirmishes, the situation has remained relatively peaceful.
Though prices have risen, Derik's cafes are still full and people linger in the streets with little fear. Kurdish flags now fly from shops and houses, Kurdish police forces known as Asayish patrol the streets and community organizations known as People's Houses, "mala gels" in Kurdish, have been set up to solve disputes and act as de facto government institutions.
The Kurdish language, which as little as two years ago was forbidden, is now taught in state schools. Delkesh Resol, a 22-year-old former door-to-door salesman, was preparing one recent Sunday morning to teach a Kurdish language lesson to high school students despite a warning from the regime that language classes were to have stopped the previous Thursday.
'Studying in secret'
His act of defiance, which prior to the revolution would have led to a prison sentence and possible torture, did not concern him. "I'm not worried, there is no fear when you're doing something from your heart," Resol said. "Before this we knew there would come a day when we could do this (teach Kurdish in the schools), so we were studying in secret. If we need to teach Kurdish in the streets, we will."
Danny Gold
High school students in a classroom in Derik, Syria, listen to a teacher giving Kurdish lessons. Teaching the Kurdish language was previously forbidden.
The mala gel in Derik is made up of 40 members, and resolves disputes on everything from agriculture to the distribution of donations received from Kurds in Iraq. There is even a member who specializes in divorces. Additional "houses," such as the Women's House and the Youth House, handle more specialized disputes.
Despite Resol's confidence, it is still necessary to be wary of Assad Mukhabarat, or secret police, in Derik. Though the city is described as liberated, plainclothes intelligence officers still lurk the streets. Just exactly who is in power, and how much power they have, is vague.
The lack of heavy conflict and continued presence of Assad men in some of the cities have led to accusations that the Kurdish leadership arranged a secret deal with the regime, where they were allowed to take over certain areas in exchange for not forcing a third front. Others have argued that the Kurds are simply acting practically.
"The regime has not subjected the Kurdish regions to the same level of violence that it has directed against other parts of Syria," said Thomas McGee, a researcher on Syrian Kurds at Britain's University of Exeter, who spent two years living in the region and was there for the first eight months of the revolution. "Kurds have not gone out of their way to bring this upon themselves, learning from the regime's brutal reaction to the 2004 Kurdish uprising." In 2004, Kurdish protests that began at a soccer game led to an assault by regime forces that ended with over 30 Kurdish citizens killed.
"The fact that neither the regime nor Kurds en masse have actively declared war on the other need not mean that there is collusion. Each side has their interests and is pursuing this," McGee added. "Kurds, for their part seek stability and wish to avoid escalation."
NBC News
People resisting the army of President Bashar al-Assad in northern Syria cope with loss and prepare for fighting.
Both sides in the Kurdish areas walk a tenuous line, in some areas existing side-by-side while trying to avoid direct conflict that seems inevitable. Regime buildings are still occupied by officials, but the people inside are said to be powerless. In Derik -- which is 90 percent Kurdish -- the mala gel is housed in a building formerly used by a youth committee of Assad's ruling Baath party. It is now adorned with photos of Syrian Kurdish martyrs and Abdullah Ocalan, the leader of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) who is jailed in Turkey. According to the State Department, "PKK terrorist activity has been responsible for the deaths of more than 30,000 Turkish citizens."
It is also next door to a local headquarters for the Baath party, where spray-painted photos of Assad family members dot the perimeter walls. In other parts of the city, these images have been defaced, as have representations of the Syrian flag.
The small city of Girke Lege, another liberated Kurdish area, lies adjacent to the oil city of Rmeilan, which is heavily fortified with Assad troops. A large Kurdish flag welcomes visitors to the city, but after a ten-minute drive down the road, an Assad flag waves above a fortress-like encampment.
'It feels like a new place'
Kana Berakat, 43, a member of the People's House in Girke Lege, recalls the two times he was imprisoned for Kurdish rights activism. At Aleppo University in 1990, he tried to organize a Newroz celebration and spent 70 days in jail. In 2009, he spent a week in jail after attending a Kurdish rights demonstration. That time, Berakat was arrested because he did not have identification papers. Berakat is one of hundreds of thousands of Kurds in Syria who had their citizenship removed in 1962 and are currently stateless.
"It feels like a new place. Before when I went shopping to get tomatoes, I was very afraid," he said. "I thought the regime would take me. Now I walk around not worried, like I am a free man, but I am worried for the future."
One street in Aleppo: Life goes on as death lurks around every corner
Berakat, though enjoying his newfound freedom, is concerned that as the regime continues to falter, it may one day grow desperate and unleash the troops next door. By then, though, he hopes the Kurdish militia will be strong enough to defend the Kurdish people.
Danny Gold
Bashir Said Mohammad surveys construction on a new home he began building in Derik, Syria, after the revolution started. He had been previously been denied permission because he is a Kurd.
The Kurds' Popular Protection Units (YPG) patrol the borders and act as a deterrent to both Assad forces and the rebel Free Syrian Army. Established by the Democratic Union Party (PYD), the most powerful Syrian Kurdish political group, the YPG is now distancing itself and trying to be seen as the universal defenders of the Syrian Kurds instead of the party's military wing.
Videos of YPG forces training have shown a noticeable lack of heavily artillery, but the troop numbers are said to be growing every day. The formation of a fourth brigade was just announced.
More Syria coverage from NBC News
The YPG has not hesitated to attack the regime if provoked, and has sought to prevent both the FSA and the regime from entering Kurdish neighborhoods in more contested areas like Kobane and Efrin. After a Kurdish neighborhood in Aleppo was bombed in late July resulting in the death of 21 civilians, YPG forces killed three regime soldiers and captured a number of others.
Machine guns operated by motorcycle brakes? Get a glimpse at the rebels fighting against Assad's forces in Syria's mountainous Jabal al-Zawiya area.
Last week, Assad's forces bombed a Kurdish area in Aleppo. The FSA and the YPG also clashed, reportedly leaving about 20 fighters dead.
At a recent demonstration in the city of Qamishli, 50 or so new recruits lined up for military exercises. They stood silently, faces covered in scarves as to obscure their identities and surrounded by a crowd of thousands chanting slogans of support. Old women clad in hijabs and young girls in Western-style clothing waved flags, singing and dancing to songs of Kurdish freedom.
The demonstration came a few days after a car bomb exploded outside an Assad base in the city, killing four soldiers. The bombing was later claimed by Jabhat Al-Nusra, a shadowy jihadist organization with ties to al-Qaida that is fighting against the regime. The night before had seen a gunbattle at the airport between the FSA and the regime. These incidents heightened fears that the war was encroaching into Kurdish territory.
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A look back at the violence that has overtaken the country
Some Kurds believe the FSA means to lure the Kurds further into the conflict, forcing Assad to open up another front and possibly using the Kurdish issue to persuade Turkey to further involve itself. Others think that the regime will grow weary of the Kurdish push for more rights and eventual autonomy, and look to reassert control.
Turkey has leveled accusations that the PYD is simply a front for the Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK), which has been engaged in a guerrilla war against the Turkish government for 30 years. Turkey has threatened to invade the Kurdish areas to root them out. PYD categorically denies that it is simply a front for the PKK, saying that they share ideology but do not take orders.
NYT: Syria rivals in deadly game of cat-and-mouse
Saleh Muslim Mohammed, the leader of the PYD, also expressed fear of the Islamist brigades and extremists said to be fighting alongside the FSA.
For now, the Kurds appear intent on staving off escalating conflict while attempting to build up enough strength to protect their newfound rights and eventually obtain a level of freedom that has eluded them in Syria.
"Violence is the last choice, but if anything happens here the YPG will answer," said Mohammed Saeed, a PYD official in Derik. "Every family here has weapons. All the Kurdish, not only the YPG, will defend themselves. Without Kurdish rights, there will be no stability."
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Leave a Comment:
Enjoy what you can while you can, soon the religious nut bags will take over and you may wish for the old days instead of what the nuts will be doing to you. Time will tell on this.
SallyAnn...probably you are right! The religious "nut bags" are everywhere there is religion. We even have them in the USA shooting doctors at clinics that offer abortion as part of their services.
Religion poisons everything.
Religious/Political nut bags, one in the same. When the two meld together to one, nothing good ever happens. Political Party's can't see eye to eye on anything, same when it is a singular, no such thing religion. Regardless of whom, what or where someone will always have a better way do doing something. I'm right your wrong mentality, since the dawn of time. Christian denominations, 40 thousand and counting. Get PO'ed at one Church go find another.
@ Master Joseph
Really?
So a hand full of nuts (by your own words) do things that are well beyond the fringes...by way of that...religion poisons everything?
That statement lacks logic.
There are extremists in every social circle on the planet. Perhaps we can just call a spade a spade and state that all humans have the latent potential to poison everything.
freedom?? where are the girls and wemon I dont see any in the photos OH I get they arent free
There are also nut bags that are not religious...
Although I'm not religious, I don't think religion is the problem. The problem is, many of the nut bags in the world look for something to give themselves a reason to commit the types of actions they want to commit - so they sometimes gravitate to religious beliefs since their religions can be powerful belief systems. Then they twist what the religious belief says, in order to justify their actions.
But, the key point is they probably would have taken the same actions even if they had not found a religious belief that suited their desires - the religious part of it was just a justification for what they were already going to do. (similar to the people that claim playing Dungeons & Dragons led them to kill people in real life)
I agree with you!
Religion is opium of masses. But due to Sunni Saudis and co, many Muslims have become high dosage heroin addicts.
What some mention about Christians are not true in most places. May be: they were there few centuries back. Some stray cases unlike large scale cases of Muslims (especially Sunnis) may be there even these days. How many Christians blow those Christians going on pilirimage?
Mind you we are in 21st century and ICT age.
Followers of Islamic cult, especially Sunni Saudi inspired Islamic radicals and militants (al-Qaida, Salaffi, Wahhabi, MB, Taliban and other label ones), are fast marching backwards to their seventh century desert tribal days.
They are indulging in rapings, lootings, killings and genocides of non-Muslims (Darfur, S. Sudan, Nigeria and spreading like wild fire in many regions and Muslims (Libya, Yemen, Mali, Iraq, Syria, Pakistan, Afghanistan and other places).
Sunni Saudi backed Salaffi and MB new chapters are opening up in Egypt. Just watch the fate of Christians, women and Israel as the time goes by.
Even in Syria, if Assad is overthrown by Sunni Islamic religious Nazis like al-Qaida, MB, the conditions of Christians will be unbearable just like Iraq.
Pakis and Sunni Saudis and co are responsible for 80 percent of world problems including economic ones. Examine the devastations with Iraqi wars and now sanctions on Iranian oil and the resultant oil price manipulations.
They are making the lives of their own people also miserable by their Islamic religious madness to the intolerable levels.
Freedom. there's nothing like it. The Jews, with now a homeland, Israel, heartily agree. I for one endorse the Kurds in their struggle.
Freedom, there's nothing like it; now that the Jews have their ancient homeland. I for one heartily support the Kurds in their struggle.
And along came Barry Soetoro Hussein Obama who ate the Kurds along with his whey.
IDIOT
harley
Every time you post something the property values on the vine go down.
You are truly a waste of time and space. Do us all a favor and go back to the Faux boards and pollute their space.
I disagree that "religion poisons everything". That is just an excuse for lunatics. Religion itself doesn't "do" anything. It's people that pervert it and use it to justify terrible actions.
PEOPLE are the problem...not religion.
So very true....if what the others say that religion poisons everything then there would be civil wars everywhere...I am one who believes in the right to life...I also believe that in cases of rape, incest or in those instances where a doctor deems it necessary to save a womens life, then yes to abortion....but on the other hand why is it that people who are suppose to have some intelligence and know there are ways to prevent pregnacy don't use their brain? I would rather see the government provide condoms and birth control pills to reduce the number of abortions....
@ Ted
People make completely absurd remarks like that because anti-religion is the new cool.
Their own social circles wouldn't accept them should they actually defend something that is considered unpopular, no matter how much sense it makes.
I believe a women have the right to choose and do with her body what ever she wants. But I also believe that Government should not pay for her abortion, She got in to this mess she and her mate should pay for their abortion. Later let them deal with their creator when the time come to meet him.
I wouldn't say Religion poisons everything. I don't understand why religious people just can't keep their nose in their chuch. They need to stop forcing their beliefs on to other people. You are infringing on other people Constitutional Rights. If anybody is stomping on the Constitution of this country it is the Churches over stepping their boundries. The Constitution has more Enamies in this country than out of it. It saddens me that I spent 24 years defending what you should be standing up for.
Grego, the problem there is 'her mate'! Where is he?!?! And, if they/she can't afford $400/$500 (??don't know what is costs nowadays), what do they do then? I know, have the baby, get medicaid, welfare, & food stamps!
Or, if Romney wins, they can live on the streets of your neighborhood, with no healthcare, no food, & cardboard for shelter!
Ted...
This is like saying the people are the problem not the virus they carry. WTF? islam is a virus and the sooner the rest of the world understands this, the better off the socialized peaceful people of Earth will be able to deal with this sickness. Ask yourself this,what does a virus do? It spreads without boundaries, without logic, without remorse or reason, having no clear cut political agenda, other than leaving fear, death, destruction and despair in its wake. A virus does not create anything except more of itself and death. Sound familiar? You can kill a virus by killing all the hosts. But it will be much easier, and with less collateral damage for the non-infected, to quarantine the virus and let it run its course. No hosts, no virus. We win by not fighting. Perfect!
I find it completely ironic, let me say that again, I FIND IT COMPLETELY IRONIC, that all of the world's current unrest is being caused by God people. Got that? God people. I believe in God, but it certainly isn't allah.
Only two types of people cover their faces, cowards or criminals or a combination of both.
Whether a religion is being "perverted" is a matter of opinion. There's a very strong invocation to violence, in the Western religions at least and I don't think its entirely accurate to say that a Christian, Jew, or Moslem is acting outside of the boundaries of his/her faith in acting violently.
You just kind of assume that the only "REAL" version of Islam would be one where the Moslems all walked, talked, and acted like upper middle class, Volvo driving, latte-drinking, soft hearted white liberals. I think that's pretty foggy reasoning...
...and then there's the possibility that God might not a soft-hearted, tolerant type of God. Indeed, if there is a God, s/he might be quite hateful, violent, and vengeful.
For Muslims religion is everything.
Instead of reforming with times, many Muslims are going backwards to their regular stealing, raping, kidnapping, looting and killing days!
Muslims consider that they can't live with non-Muslims in non-Muslim majority nations.
When Muslims form more than ten percent in a non-Muslim nation, they want their own “stan.”
This should be applicable to Shiites, Kurds where they form more than ten percent.
Shiites, infidels for Sunnis, should start their liberation struggles for Shiastan starting from Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Pakistan, Kuwait, UAE, Oman, Qatar other places.
"The Kurds are the largest ethnic group in the world without a homeland, totaling more than 30 million people. Spread out between parts of Iraq, Syria, Iran and Turkey,"
Kurds deserve their greater homeland integrating all the Kurds areas of Iraq, Syria, Iran and Turkey.
@ Seven - I see what you are saying, but I still disagree. A virus is a living organism. Religion is not. I truly believe (with regards to those who use religion to harm others or use it to justify their own selfish actions) that if religion were non-existent, they would find some other reason or some other cause to justify why they want to control others. And all of the unrest is not caused by God's people. You are lumping everyone together. What about the problems in Greece? God's people? What about Muslims that rise up to fight against their own people who have oppressed them? I am simply talking about religious fanatics who use religion to justify their behavior. I'm just saying that they use religion as an excuse. I'm not talking about or addressing all of the other civil unrest.
@ Travis - that's a very good point. If there is a God, he/she might be hateful, violent, etc....
That could very well be true, but I have to say that if God were all those things, then God is a complete dick.
Partition off Iraq for a "Kurd"istan. They are a different breed from Sunni and Shiite.
@ Beev
Its true.
My last of three tours in Iraq was in Kirkuk. The Kurds are mixed all around Kirkuk. They are very trustworthy and would go out of their way to help us.
Just north of Kirkuk is a Kurdish controlled city called Irbil (Arbil). We were allowed to dress down our body armor (IOTV) and kevlar helmets (ACH) because we trust the Kurds that much.
The Kurds understand the value of freedom.
It'sto bad Americans don't have a clue what freedom is all about.
6dogs, it's too bad you are a man of few words!
Kurds are one of the ancient people like the Armenians and Persians. They have been treated badly by history. The greatest Muslim warrior Saleh-u-din was a Kurd. Yet Kurds were treated badly by Persians (Iranians) and Arabs and Turks.
Though all of them belong to Islamic religion, the main driving force was racism for the atrocities inflicted upon the Kurds. Persians being Aryans look down upon Semitic and ancient people. Arabs are the worst racists in human history. They think just because Muhammad was one of them, they are superior to all other races. Turks hate the Kurds as Kurds have a better culture and valor.
Kurds live in Iran, Iraq, Turkey and Syria. All these countries deny the propagation of Kurdish language and culture. Only in Iraq after Bush's war, they have some form of autonomous freedom.
Kurds must be given a country of their own. This will balance the power play in Middle East. However, Arabs, Turks and Iranians try, one day the world will witness a free and democratic Kurdistan!
gudprsn - Not to dispute all that you say in your post, but... the Kurds are also Iranian, or Aryan in their derivation and culture. They speak an Indo-European language.
Persians represent their ethnic and cultural cousins.
Just where is it that their are giving out countries and national sovereignty?
The Kurds make up a significant ethnic minority in multiple Middle East nations. Yes, it might be a good idea, if some omnipotent power were drawing lines on a map, to draw a line around all the Kurdish regions of Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran, and call it Kurdistan.
But that is not how the real world works.
"Arabs are the worst racists in human history." At last, someone else who feels the same way I do. We have many Muslim immigrants from Persian Gulf & North African states here, and I can't count how much garbage has come out of their mouths. I couldn't tell you how many times I have heard the infamous "n word" from them, nor how many times they use "white trash" for white native borns, nor the number of pejoratives against Asians, Coptic Christians, Jews, Hindus, Republican voters, anyone who is born or thinks differently than they do.
Only time will tell what Kurdish rule in parts of Iran, Iraq, Turkey, and Syria may bring to these people.
"...if some omnipotent power were drawing lines on a map."
We need the old Britain back.
Well, since they are the ones who created Iraq, Syria and Jordan out of the carcase of the old Ottoman Empire, I would say Great Britain might not be the ideal candidate.
Then again, who is?
Where ever you draw the lines you can be sure somebody will have a complaint.
Dman, I thought someone would pick up on it. My post was completely satirical.
gudprsn, Before wishing Kurds to create their country, let me ask you, would you wnat the mexican descendants creating their own state? Also, do you even know that part of the world? Saying Kurds have better culture and valor than Turks shows your ignorance.
Here iare a few things for you and other to consider:
-Turks, and not Kurds, resisted the invading allies who tried to break apart the remnants of the Ottoman Empire, like carrion birds. Turks lost 250,000 souls on Gallipoli in one battle, out of 13 million total population at the time.
-Turks, and not Kurds, established Trukish Republic in 1923, and by 1938, was a modern country in every meaning. COnsider this: TUrkish Women got their voting rights before most other western countries.
- 1938, ZERO debt to other countries
-Do you even know that one of the prme ministers in 1980s, TUrgut Ozal, who later became the President, was of Kurdish descent?
- Name me a poet, a novelist, a composer, a scientist, an internationally acclaimed doctor, a painter who is Kurdish? Now, google for turkish poets, novelists, composers, scientists, doctors, painters....see how many come up, who are all internationally known...
- Consider the Kurdish terrorists who ambush th villages, teachers' dorms, military barracks in the dark of the night, through long-range warfare, within turkish obrders, killing eeryone, even the babes; the same terrorists who run back across the border to hide in their caves...30,000 and more citizens of TUrkey, some of whom were of Kurdish descent, were killed in the hands of the Kurdish rebels.
-Did you know that one of the assassination attempts agains Mustafa Kemal, the founder of Modern Turkey, was arranged by Kurds?
- Turkish culture goes back thousand of yeras, with written proof, and living tradition affecting multiple peoples across Asia and Europe. Where is Kurdish culture?
Now read these, and then talk about Kurdish Culture and Valor...
gudprsn, Before wishing Kurds to create their country, let me ask you, would you wnat the mexican descendants creating their own state? Also, do you even know that part of the world? Saying Kurds have better culture and valor than Turks shows your ignorance.
Here iare a few things for you and other to consider:
-Turks, and not Kurds, resisted the invading allies who tried to break apart the remnants of the Ottoman Empire, like carrion birds. Turks lost 250,000 souls on Gallipoli in one battle, out of 13 million total population at the time.
-Turks, and not Kurds, established Trukish Republic in 1923, and by 1938, was a modern country in every meaning. COnsider this: TUrkish Women got their voting rights before most other western countries.
- 1938, ZERO debt to other countries
-Do you even know that one of the prme ministers in 1980s, TUrgut Ozal, who later became the President, was of Kurdish descent?
- Name me a poet, a novelist, a composer, a scientist, an internationally acclaimed doctor, a painter who is Kurdish? Now, google for turkish poets, novelists, composers, scientists, doctors, painters....see how many come up, who are all internationally known...
- Consider the Kurdish terrorists who ambush th villages, teachers' dorms, military barracks in the dark of the night, through long-range warfare, within turkish obrders, killing eeryone, even the babes; the same terrorists who run back across the border to hide in their caves...30,000 and more citizens of TUrkey, some of whom were of Kurdish descent, were killed in the hands of the Kurdish rebels.
-Did you know that one of the assassination attempts agains Mustafa Kemal, the founder of Modern Turkey, was arranged by Kurds?
- Turkish culture goes back thousand of yeras, with written proof, and living tradition affecting multiple peoples across Asia and Europe. Where is Kurdish culture?
Now read these, and then talk about Kurdish Culture and Valor...
In Aleppo,Syria the Kurdish section was attacked by the foreign rebel fighters-not Syrian troops. Kurds are not Arabs either- they have been staying aloof of the civil war- since most of them are congregated along the Syria/Turkey border and by now everyone should be aware of Turkish PM Erdogan's party labeling every Kurd as a terrorist-whether in Turkey or in Iraq Kurdistan mountains (there have been more air sorties there trying to kill Kurds than NATO's Libya bombing). Turkey has also been arresting/detaining/imprisoning Kurdish members of parliament,newspaper editors/writers etc.Kurds were promised their own country after WWI but the players of the Great Game never let that happen. By the way today is Turkey's Democratic Day and PM Erdogan's edict has been spraying pepperspray and water cannons tpo disperse Turks celebrating their National Day-gendarmes stopping busses (over 100)from gaining entry-threatening parliament members with arrest (the oppostion-who are not Kurds). As if Obama stopping Fourth of July celebrations in US to mark Independence Day.
Kurds are stealing land and killing innocent people for it, they have no right to that land, thats why they are killing everyone that does have the right to claim it! The same happened in irak, turkey,......... And the victims are almost always assyrians, because they are the indigenous people of the middle east and have the most right to claim that land
How about some proof of what you say, or are you just a just joined troll. I'm betting on the troll.
Sounds like these Kurds really got their Shiite together!
@SabotAndHeat
Thank you so much for your service. I had heard that the Kurds were awesome folks and very trustworthy and helpfull. Wasn't it the Kurds who Sadam Hussein used chemical weapons on in his own country of Iraq. We did the right thing by going into Iraq. Anyone who questions it, needs to read "Terror at Beslan" and on or around page 272 I think, it mentions that blueprints were found for 6 schools in the U.S. in 6 different states. Sadam was going to finance something to that effect in the U.S. Sadam was a murderous villan who caused the deaths of many innocent people and he is now out of power. Unfortunately, there are always those who will take advantage and abuse power.
I hope someday the Kurds get their own country as they deserve it.
I testify your words are correct and I concur. More could be added in a different forum.
When Iraq falls do to the shiite and sunni infighting and constant outside pressure from Iran and Saudi Arabia northern Iraq will be rechristened Kurdistan. Every report out of Iraq that has any truth to it shows that the Kurdish northern Iraq is lightyears ahead of the arab sections with infrastructure local leadership local security and national identity.
Only 2 good things came from the American invasion of Iraq (and its up to the individual to decide weither or not it was worth it) were 1 the death of Sadam and his sons 2 the liberation of the Kurds. The Kurds were the only group that reacted like the Bush administration claimed all Iraqi's would. Out of that entire mess the only place that worked out like the American public and the rest of the world were pitched at the begining of the fiasco was the kurdish area. Long suffering from the hands of Sadam and his regeme the Kurds jumped at a chance for freedom and as any returning soldier will tell you are the best friends the US coalition forces ever had in Iraq. I give southern Iraq maybe 5 years befor it ends up in civil war and ultimatly back in the hands of a dictator, but the Kurds have already prepared for that day. Once the American backed government begins to fall away ( and you can see that happening right now) the Kurds will close the border to their self ruled section.
To settle all the back and forth and emotional debate.
Regardless of what we feel and our opinion. This Article is a blatant pice of Mainstream propaganda. 1: How are you going to rebuild and feel a sense of anything in the mist of a civil war.that has just begun?
Also as bad as Assad is,I doubt anyone in Syria was willing to have their infrastructure destroyed thousands murdered and a bunch of outsiders and islamic extremist running whats left of their country. It will be just like Libya a total mess and failure.
Like or not people The rebels are worse than Gadaffi,the country went from being advancing to the stone age and more innocent women and children died than would have under Gadaffi and still are under these rebels that we are trying to call a transitional government.. There is mass fighting tribal war and murder and no organization . We just refuse to report it now that we got what we wanted.
This is what syria faces.
I wished americans had the kind of unity that the kurds do. To keep your heritage alive after decades if not centuries of being spread across different countries and governments is tough. Instead we are too worried about identifing ourselves as "african" american, latino or whatever instead of just calling us what we are... AMERICANS. We do not have a language, culture, religion or even food to bind us together.
That region of the world has been at war since biblical times. The Sunis, the Shiites, and the Kurds have been killing each other forever. Throw the Jews (who have been there as long as the arabs) into the mix and you have a real mess. Why do we think the arabs understand or want democracy? They don't! We need to get out of there and leave them alone. They don't hate us for being a rich, successful, Christian society. They hate us for interfering with their society. If we leave them alone, they will leave us alone.
The merge of religion and government is viewed as progress by religious groups in general but is not good for the rest of us. Democracy, in this case, will fail the minorities in those countries. Any aide that is sent from American tax money to fuel any part of this so call "arab spring" is irresponsible and should be considered neglect of the struggling people in our country.
We should be demanding to know every detail of our governments agenda for doing so.
It appears to me that any ideology can warp into the form or character of a religion and attempt to force the same on everyone else according to there established tenets without compromise. Sometimes it even seems to be who or what is popular. Ithink its happening to some degree with obama, and heard many people vow to support him with little reason other than his race. Be careful how you invest your loyalty without a strict scrutiny.
From what I have understood the Kurds have always been Nomadic tribes, kind of gypsy like, moving about the region as they desire. That they never really had any afiliation with any "country"
When my son was stationed in a northern Iraq town called Tal-Afar, which is on the border of Syria. He said that the border guards often stopped Kurds who were trying to enter Iraq. They had no idea of what Iraq was. Or Syria, for that matter. When asked about Saddam, or Assad, they had no idea of who either was. Only that this was land they moved through as they wished. They were not political, and cared nothing about the conflicts of the region. They only wanted to move thier herds to better grazing lands, and did not recognize a border as anything tangient.
Thats what I was told. And, that Kurds were very nice peaceful tribes. At least the ones my son had met were.
Kurds come from persia and have no right to claim an other land than that. Go claim your land from Ahmadinejad! We will see where hè is going to put y'all!!! If the kurds want a land that they have no right to get, then we assyrians want America, Lets see how many americans will agree!!!
Do they want a place to live or a place to rule? Huge difference.
If they just want a place to live without being killed, they should have that.
But in the middle east, it seems like they are all to barbaric to live in peace with people who are different. SAD!
Prove they have no right troll. All I see from you is the hatred that is being visited upon the Kurdish people. Maybe it's you who needs to go.
During the Versaille Peace Conference of 1919 which ended WWI, Kurds petitioned the victors for an independent Kurdistan based upon Wilson's 14 points. If we believe in self determination we should support a free and independent Kurdistan. The USA has been the best friend to the Kurds in Iraq and they have reciprocrated. Kurds have waited almost 100 years for their freedom. It is time to give it to them. We support Israel's right to exist. Why not Kurdistan!
I'm shocked that the webmaster who runs this blog doesn't ban people like LisaGreen22 for life. This is not a forum for your stupid "Make money on the internet scams" like yours. Which is exactly what Max14.com is.
Thanks for deleting
Lisa keeps getting kicked off then re-registering with a different number. Just worthless, that's all.
The Arabs have been fighting each other and everyone else for 1,000's of years. It will not stop in my life time I do not think. As long as Sharia law is demanded and the antiquated idea it represents is allowed to exist it will never stop. Why we thought we could go in and change things in10 or 12 years is ludicrous. We have planted the seeds of change though.
I smell an INDEPENDENT KURDISTAN cooking!!
Assad knows he can't handle two front. I would wager a guess that is why the Kurds are experiencing some form of freedom at the moment. I don't know if it will be long lived no matter how this whole civil war plays out. The writing is on the wall. When an insurrection like this starts it only a matter of time before the old guard crumbles. I hope the FSA will respect the Kurdish peoples' right to self determination as they themselves have fought for against Assad but something tells me the FSA will not be so understanding.
don't girls get to go to school? democracy my %#&...
why is it that women in the mid east get the short end of the stick? the men treat their goats better.
That's in most parts of the world, actually...
I'm all for freedom in peace. Hopefully the Kurds have changed their ways towards their females. I remember the Iraqi Kurdistan forced many of their females towards female genital cuttings. That 60% of the females have undergone this genital cuttings.
When I hear freedom, I expect it to be freedom for all, not just males alone. This pre-historic practice should stop. Where females have freedom also.
Decades of oppression? How about centuries.
Little Miss Muffet was written in 1805.
"Eating her Kurds and whey..."