The Kurdish Movement in the Arab World: The Syrian Kurds as a Case Study

Authors

  • Author

  • Mohannad Al-Kati

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.31430/almuntaqa.2.1.0045

Abstract

This study examines Kurdish discourse within the Arab World through the lens of the discourse of the Kurdish movement in Syria. This group was selected due to its organic relationship with the other Kurdish movements in the region, and because it is heavily influenced by the discourse of the Kurdish movements of neighboring countries, particularly Iraq. The author attempts to provide a comprehensive guide to the various Kurdish parties and divisions. In his analysis of Kurdish discourse, he focuses mainly on the demands and perceptions of the Kurdish issue in Syria throughout various periods of the history of the movement.

References

  1. This study was originally published as a chapter in the edited volume “Arabs and Kurds: interests, fears and commonalities”. The volume was published by the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies in March 2019 and was based on a conference by the same title held by the center on 29 April- 1 May, 2017. The study was translated by Mohamed Mahmoud El-Asmar.
  2. Researcher in Syrian social and political history, holds a master’s degree in chemical engineering.
  3. Wadie Jwaideh , The Kurdish National Movement: Its Origins and Development, (Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 2004). p. 352.
  4. David McDowall , A Modern History of the Kurds, David McDowall, (London: I.B. Tauris, 2004) p. 203.
  5. H.C. Armstrong, Grey Wolf: Mustafa Kemal: An Intimate Study of a Dictator , (New York: Methuen Publishing, 2016), p. 267.
  6. Balh Sherko, al-Qaḍiyya al-Kurdiyya: Māḍī al-Kurd wa-Ḥādiruhum, (Beirut: Dār al-Kātib, 1985), p.95.
  7. Arshak Safrastian, Kurds and Kurdistan, (London: Harvill Press, 1948), p. 169.
  8. Ibid. Ḥaḍarī, (Beirut: al-Markaz al-‘Arabī li’l-Abḥāth wa-Dirāsat al-Siyāsiyyāt, 2013), p. 264. (1925-1946), (Bern: Peter Lang, 2006), p.148.
  9. Muhammad Jamal Barut, at-Takwīn at-Tārīkhī al-Ḥadīth li’l-Jazīrah as-Sūriyya: Asʾila wa-Ishkāliyyāt at-Taḥawwul min al-Badwana ilā’l-ʿUmrān al-
  10. Jordi Gorgas, Le mouvement kurde de Turquie en exil: Continuités et discontinuités du nationalisme kurde sous le mandat français en Syrie et au Liban
  11. Osman Sabri, Mudhakkirāt Ōṣmān Ṣabrī , Translated by Murami Yazdi and Dîlawer Zengî, Revised by Tawfīq al-Ḥusaynī
  12. Shakir Khasbak, al-Akrād: Dirāsa Jughrāfiyya Ithnoghrāfiyya , (Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyya, 2005), P.519.
  13. McDowall, p. 241
  14. Group of Researchers, Mas ʾ alat Akrād Sūriyah: al-Wāqi’- at-Tārīkh – al- ` Astara, (Beirut: Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies, 2013). Qaḍiyya: Wathāʾiq , Special Edition, (Berlin: n.p. 2011), p. 67.
  15. Freedom magazine, Issue 10, 21/05/1957, Al-Ayyam Al-Arabi newspaper, issue 96, 23/06/ 1957. See: Dîlawer Zengî and Ahmad Shihāb, Min Adab al-
  16. Nadwa li’l-Muthaqqafīn al-Akrād fī’l-Qāmishlī ", from: Jarīdat ad-Dīmuqrātī, Welate Me , 09/08/2007, https://bit.ly/2u6EEXx.
  17. Nur al-Din Zaza , Ḥayātī ka Kūrdī, Translated by Khosrau Butani, (Erbil: Dār ‘Arās li’ṭ-Ṭibāʿa, 2008), p. 176.
  18. “ Jalāl aṭ-Ṭalabānī Yatadhakkaru Qiṣṣat al-ʿUthūr ʿalā Muṣṭafā al-Barzānī fī Moskō”, al-Waṣat , Issue 357, 30/11/1998. p.14.
  19. Abdulhamid Darwish , ` Adwā ‘alā al-Ḥarakah al-Kurdiyya fī Sūriyyah: Aḥdāth Fatrat 1956-1893, (1st ed. n.p. n.d, 2nd ed. al-Sūlaymāniyya, n.p., 2003),
  20. Dîlawer Zengî, ‘Uthmān Sabrī: Ḥayātuhū – Niḍāluhū – ‘A’māluhū al-‘Adabiyya, (Beirut: Matba’at ‘Amīral, 2012), p. 24.
  21. Ibid. 2003), pp.25-26. Muʾassasat al-Balāgh li’t-Ṭibā`a wa’n-Nashr, 2001), p. 83.
  22. Salah Badreddin, al- Ḥaraka al-Qawmiyya al-Kurdiyya fi Sūriyah: Ru ʾ ya Naqdiyya min ad-Dākhil , (Beirut/ Erbil: Rābiṭat Kāwā li’t-Ṭibā’a wa’n-Nashr,
  23. Salah al-Khurasan, at-Tayyarāt as-Siyāsiyya fī Kurdistān al-ʿIrāq: Qirāʾā fī Malaffāt al-Ḥarakāt wa’l-Aḥzāb al-Kurdiyya fī’l-ʿIrāq 1946-2001, (Beirut:
  24. Ali Shamdin, al-Ḥaraka al-Kurdiyya fī Sūriyah wa Ẓāhirat al-Inshiqāqāt (1916-2016) , (Sulaymaniyah: Markaz al-Abḥāth at-Tārīkhiyya, 2016), p.47.
  25. Badreddin, p. 29. ly/2KITAFD.
  26. Salah Badreddin, “Fī’dh-Dhikrā al-Khamsīn li-Kanferāns al-Khāmis min Āb, al-Ḥiwār al-Mutamaddin,” 04/08/2015, Accessed on: 10/07/2018, https://bit.
  27. Darwish, pp. 97-98
  28. Darwish, p. 101.
  29. “ ’ Āʿilat ash-Shahīd Kamāl Tazūr Ḍarīh al-Munāḍilayn Kamāl ‘Ahmad Darwish wa Shaykhmūs Mūsā”, www.welateme.net, 11/03/2018, accessed 29/04/2009, https://bit.ly/2NGpzUH.
  30. Darwish, p. 240. moved to the town of Amuda in Syria. PÊNÛSA NÛ, Year 3, Issue 35, March 2013. Pp. 14 - 16. https://bit.ly/2N3Mato.
  31. Abdul Rahman Aluji, the son of Mullah Hassan Aluji, took refuge in Mosul with his family after the failure of Sheikh Said’s rebellion in 1925. He later
  32. Alī Sālih Mirānī, “al-Ḥizb ad-Dīmuqrātī al-Kurdī fī Sūriyah (al-Partī).. min at-Ta’sīs ilā’th-Thawra”, Madarat Kurd, 28/03/2016, accessed on 29/04/2018,
  33. Abdul Basit Sida is the grandson of Ubaydullah Jinckir Qasim al-Hizani (Hizan is a region of the Turkish province of Bitlis, in whose Külat village he was born). Ubaydullah continued his studies in the Islamic sciences first in Diyarbekir and then in Dari (Dara), and was granted the title of “Sida”, which is a title bestowed upon graduates of religious schools; it subsequently became his surname. He moved to Amuda with his brother Fathullah in the 1920s and was authorized to open a religious school there. Source: Personal communication with Abdullatif HUsayni, the author of the book “Amuda”, (Damascus: Matba’at
  34. ʾAʿḍā’ al-Hay’atayn al-Ri’āsiyya wa’s-Siyāsiyya li Majlis Sūriya ad-Dīmuqrātiyya, official page of the Syrian Democratic Council, 16/04/2016, accessed
  35. “ Submerged” is in reference to those whose lands were flooded by the Euphrates Dam. Some of them were given land in the Syrian Jazīra (Hasakah). min al-Aḥzāb al-Kurdiyya”, Madarat Kurd, 01/10/2012, accessed on 28/04/2018, https://bit.ly/2m89fQk.
  36. Hawzān Amīn, “ ʿAbdul-Bāsit Hamo: Kānat Ru’yatunā Sabbāqa wa-Athbata at-Tārīkh wa’th-Thawra bi-anna Khiṭābanā kāna Mutaqaddiman ʿalā Aqrāninā Sūmar, 2003). on 28/04/2016. https://bit.ly/2KTxCzd
  37. Ḥāj ʿAbdū: “Hunāk Ḥizbān bi’sm (al-Waḥda) Aḥaduhumā Takhallā ʿan an-Nahj wa’l-‘Ākhar Multazimun Bihī”, Rudaw, 14/01/2015, Accessed on: 28/04/2018,
  38. “ Ḥizb al-Waḥdah ad-Dīmuqrātiyya Yughayyiru Shiʿārahū wa’smahū ilā‘l-Kurdistāni fī Ijtimāʿ Khāṣṣ”, Yekîtî Media, 10/09/2016, Accessed on: 28/04/2017,
  39. “ Tātshir al-Kurdiyya, Narīn Matīnī li Bûyer: Sa-Abqā fī Kurdistān Rojāvā li’stikmāl al-Masīra,” Bûyer Press, 03/05/2015, Accessed on: 28/04/2017, https://bit.ly/2L0nWC. https://bit.ly/2m9rWTE.
  40. Al-Barnāmaj al-Siyāsi li-Tayyār al-Mustaqbal al-Kurdī fi Sūriyyā. Official Page of the Kurdish Future Movement Party in Syria, Accessed on 28/04/2018, https://bit.ly/2KHuB5A. https://bit.ly/2KIa0hu. (Problem w/ link).
  41. Chris Kutschera, The Long March of the Kurds: 40 Years of History in the Making, ([N.P], [N.D]), p. 253.
  42. Hūshink `Ūsī: “Ḥizb al-ʿUmmāl al-Kurdistānī wa Akrād Sūriyā…wa al-ʿAlawiyya as-Siyāsiyya”, Al-Ḥayāt, 21/11/2016, accessed on: 28/04/2018, https://bit.ly/2NDGIhS.
  43. “ An-Niẓām ad-Dākhilī”, Official Site of the PYD, Accessed on: 28/04/2017, https://bit.ly/2NFdDCX.
  44. “ Zaʿīm Kurdī Yu’lin Taḥqīq Makāsib ʿAskariyya Ḍidd al-Islāmiyyīn, Reuters, 14/11/2013, Accessed on: 28/04/2018, https://bit.ly/2N1YiuQ.
  45. “ al-Muʿāraḍa as-Sūriyya: Ḥizb al-Ittiḥād al-Kurdī ‘Muʿādin’ li’th-Thawra, Riyadh: 14/11/2013, Accessed on: 28/04/2017, https://bit.ly/2KJ8bkp. https://bit.ly/2umpOLS.
  46. Ṣafā` ʿAbdul-Hamīd, “al-Barzāni Yarfuḍ at-Taʿāmul maʿ al-Idāra al-Muʾaqqata fi Kurdistān Sūriyā. Alsumaria News, 14/11/2013, Accessed on 28/04/2018,
  47. “ Faransā: al-Akrād sa-Yakūn Lahum Makānuhum fī Bināʾ Sūriyā, DP News, 13/11/2013, Accessed on: 28/04/2017, https://bit.ly/2zmzgEI.
  48. Aldār Khalīl, Safaḥāt min Thawrat ash-Shaʿb fī Rojāvā, (Hasakah: Dār ash-Shahīd Harkūl li at-Ṭibā wa An-Nashr, 2017), p. 166. Accessed on: 28/04/2018, https://bit.ly/2N3Z5eP.
  49. “ Sūriyā: Tadmīr al-Qurā ʿalā Aydī Ḥulafā` al-Wilāyāt al-Muttaḥida Yuʿadd bi Mithābat Jarā`im Ḥarb”, Munaẓẓamat al-ʿAfw ad-Duwaliyya”, 13/10/2015,
  50. “ al-Majlis al-Waṭanī al-Kurdī fī Sūriyya”, Carnegie Middle East Center, Accessed on: 28/04/2018. http://ceip.org/2ugTFFC.
  51. “ Taqrīr Ḥawl al-Ijtimāʿ al-Iʿtiyādī li’l-Majlis al-Waṭanī al-Kurdī,” Welate Me, 09/08/2007, Accessed on: 03/01/2017, https://bit.ly/2u6EEXx. https://bit.ly/2N0Hd4I. 28/04/2017, https://bit.ly/2u44qfd.
  52. “ al-Iʾtilāf Yaʿtabir Ittifāq Jinīf “Munāwara”: Rafd `Ayy Ḥall Siyāsī bi Mushārakat Rumūz an-Niẓam,” al-Ḥayāt, 17/09/2013, Accessed on: 28/04/2017,
  53. “ Bayān min al-Majlis al-Waṭanī al-Kurdī fi Sūriyā Ḥawl `Iʿlān Wathīqat al-Iṭār at-Tanfīdhī fī Muʾtamar London”, Rojava News, 10/09/2016, Accessed on:
  54. Ibid. https://bit.ly/2u9QwrL.
  55. Ibid; “Rudaw Tanshur Naṣṣ Muswadda Dustūr al-Majlis al-Waṭanī al-Kūrdī li Idārat Kūrdistān Sūriyā”, Rudaw News, 06/01/2017, Accessed on: 28/04/2017,
  56. Nadwa lil Muthaqqafīn al-Akrād fī al-Qāmishlī ", from: Jarīdat ad-Dīmuqrātī, Welate Me, 09/08/2007, Accessed on: 28/04/2018. https://bit.ly/2u6EEXx.
  57. Saʿd Nājī Jawwād, al-ʿIrāq wa al-Mas`ala al-Kurdiyya (1958-1970), (London: Dār al-Lām, 1990), p. 173. participated during his studies at al-Azhar University in Cairo.
  58. Mr. Adnan Ibrahim Haqqi was a Kurdish language program host. He was from the city of Qamishli, and belonged to a well-known Naqshbandi family. He
  59. McDowall, p. 251.
  60. McDowall, p. 73.
  61. al-Khurasan, p. 73.
  62. Khurasan, p. 325.
  63. Khurasan, pp. 469 - 470.
  64. Khurasan, p. 317, p. 470.
  65. Khurasan, p. 276.
2Total citations
0From ACRPS journals
2External sources

Citing articles from external sources (2)

  1. Tamas Dudlak (2026) Paradiplomacy at Work: The Kurdistan Democratic Party and the Syrian Kurds (2011–2017). Digest of Middle East Studies, 35(2) https://doi.org/10.1111/dome.70021
  2. Andrea Novellis (2026) Programmatic Incompatibility: Ideology, Trust and the Limits of Rebel Cooperation Among Syria’s Kurdish Actors. Civil Wars, 1 https://doi.org/10.1080/13698249.2026.2669901

Sources: Crossref Cited-by, and the references (notes and reference lists) of the Center's own articles

Cover of العدد 4, Almuntaqa

Downloads

PDF (Hosted)
HTML

Published

2019-01-01

Usage statistics

42 views 61 downloads

Issue

Vol. 2 No. 004 (2019): Issue 004

Section

المقالات

License

Copyright (c) 2019 Almuntaqa

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.