Syrian Kurds declares new autonomous administration in Kobani
The declaration of democratic autonomy in the Kurdistan-majority regions in the north of Syria comes amid accelerated efforts to resolve the Syrian crisis.
The second democratic administration was named the Kobani Canton and will have 22 ministers similar to the Cizîre Canton, which also has 22 ministers. The capital of the administration in the Cizîre Canton is the Syrian city of Qamishli, which is right across the border from the southeastern Turkish town of Nusaybin, and the head of the administration is Ekrem Haso, according to media outlets.
The administration in Rojava (the Kurdish name for northern Syria) is expected to be divided into three autonomous provinces -- the predominantly Kurdish-populated territories of Qamishli, Afrin and Kobani.
Syrian Kurds are looking to establish one more separate autonomous administration in the country's north after Cizîre and Kobani. According to news outlets, Kurds will be declaring an autonomous administration in Afrin in the coming days.
The president, deputies and ministers were sworn in after the declaration of the administration in Kobani on Monday, say reports.
According to the Fırat News Agency, a tripartite model was adopted for the Cizîre administration, and if the president is a Kurd, its deputies should be an Arab and an Assyrian. On Tuesday, Kurds elected an Assyrian, Elizabeth Gawriya, and an Arab, Hussein Azam, as deputies, according to the agency.
As the crisis in Syria deepened, Syrian Kurds gained ground in Syria's north after a fierce struggle with the al-Qaeda-linked groups and made major territorial gains.
In December, Saleh Muslim, the head of the Democratic Union Party (PYD), a Syrian offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in northern Syria, noted that Syrian Kurds are looking to establish three separate autonomous federal states in the country's north.
Muslim also confirmed that a commission was in the process of preparing a constitution for the northeastern and northwestern regions of Syria, which are majority Kurdish.
“The [Syrian] Kurdistan region will be divided into three autonomous provinces: Kobani [center], Afrin [west] and Qamishli [east],” he said, speaking through a Kurdish-French translator.
Syria's Kurds make up around 15 percent of the population and are mostly concentrated in the northeast and northwest of the country, along the Turkish and Iraqi borders.
The Syrian government withdrew troops from those regions in mid-2012. When the PYD and other Kurdish parties announced the establishment of an autonomous transitional administration in November, Turkey harshly criticized the self-rule declaration and accused the PYD of not “keeping its promise.”
The PYD presence in northern Syria is a source of concern in Turkey because of the group's links with the PKK. Ankara is also wary of autonomy moves that could encourage further demands for autonomy among its own Kurdish population.
Turkey's opposition Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli slammed the Turkish government for keeping silent on the declaration of an autonomous region by the PYD. “While the prime minister [Recep Tayyip Erdoğan] and the government acted like representatives of the Syrian opposition, the PKK and PYD have established autonomous regions on our doorstep. Has the prime minister closed his eyes to the PKK-PYD declaration?”
TODAY'S ZAMAN
