Kurds Declare De-Facto Federal Region in Northern Syria

• The Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) and several allied groups have voted to create an autonomous federation in the northern part of Syria.
• The newly declared region, known as Rojava, consists of three distinct enclaves, or cantons, under Kurdish control in northern Syria: Jazira, Kobani and Afrin.
• Syria's Kurds effectively control an uninterrupted 400km of territory along the Syrian-Turkish border from the Euphrates River to the frontier with Iraq, where Iraqi Kurds have enjoyed autonomy since the early 1990s

Khurds in Syria:

• Kurds account for 9% of Syria's population, a total of around 1.6 million people.This makes them the largest ethnic minority in the country. They are mostly concentrated in the northeast and the north, but there are also significant Kurdish populations in Aleppo and Damascus.
• According to Amnesty International, Kurdish human rights activists are mistreated and persecuted.
• There were many techniques used to suppress the ethnic identity of Kurds in Syria include various bans on the use of the Kurdish language, refusal to register children with Kurdish names, the replacement of Kurdish place names with new names in Arabic, the prohibition of businesses that do not have Arabic names, the prohibition of Kurdish private schools, and the prohibition of books and other materials written in Kurdish.
• Having been denied the right to Syrian nationality, around 300,000 Kurds have been deprived of any social rights, in violation of international law.
• On 12 March 2004, clashes between Kurds and Syrians broke out and continued over a number of days. At least thirty people were killed and more than 160 injured. The unrest spread to other Kurdish towns along the northern border with Turkey, and then to Damascus and Aleppo.
• In March 2011, in part to avoid further demonstrations and unrest from spreading across Syria, the Syrian government promised to tackle the issue and grant Syrian citizenship to approximately 300,000 Kurds who had been previously denied the right.
• Now Syrian Khurds wants only automony within  Syria which is opposed by Assad led Syrian government

Analysis:

• The move is likely to anger neighbouring Turkey, which fears that growing Kurdish power in Syria is encouraging separatism ambitions amongst its own Kurdish minority.
• But, This move unified the Kurdish-controlled regions in northern Syria.
• The two global powers also backed Kurdish aspirations. Russia has lately been advocating that Syrian Kurds have a greater role in the Geneva talks. The United States has supported Iraq’s Kurds for decades and has been arming and offering air support to Kurdish-led Syrian groups to fight against the Islamic State.

By: Vishal