kurdish media

March 1, 2004

KCNME

Subject: Recent massacre of Kurds in Syria

OPEN LETTER

To:

United States President George W. Bush

Prime Minister Tony Blair

Chanceller Gerhard Schroder

President Jacque Chirac

Mr. Kofi Annan

The Permanent Member of the the UN Security Council

Council of Ministers of the European Union

World Public Opinion

Amnesty International has expressed serious concerns about reports that at least 20 people have been killed and hundreds of Kurds arrested by security forces in Qamishlo, Allepo, Hassaka, Amouda and Damascus since 12 March 2004. These events were widely reported in the western media. Those detained are targeted because of their Kurdish origin. "Those in detention may be subjected to torture or otherwise ill-treated, given the fact that their whereabouts are still unknown," stated Amnesty International.

The regime in Baghdad, before April 2003 and the present regime in Damascus are identical, both were maintained in power by Stalinist method and have brought nothing to the people, but devastation, backwardness and misery.

Syria, like Iraq is an artificial state, created out of colonial design after the First WW, three regions of Kurdistan, rich in oil were annexed to Syria without any consideration of the will of its population.

Successive Syrian governments prohibited using Kurdish language. The Syrian official policy has targeted at the total destruction of Kurdish identity, through land confiscation and withdrawal of all sorts of official documents, such as identity cards, Syrian nationality certificate and rights of citizenship. During the 60s, under Baath regime, a policy of ethnic cleansing was carried out, some 200,000 Kurds lost their Syrian nationality and civil rights. They have no right to own property, to send their children to state schools or get government jobs. Names of Kurdish villages changed by official decrees to be renamed with Arabic names. Kurdish peasants lost their land, villages evacuated and Arabs were armed and brought to settle in their land. Kurds become strangers in their own homeland.

The total number of Kurds in Western Kurdistan –Syria- estimated by millions by the end of 2000 is as follows:

Total Kurds: 1,8 Kurds in Kurdistan: 01,2:66,6 Kurds out of Kurdistan: 00,6:33,3

Owing to the state repression and fear, the number of refugees heading to Europe, has drastically increased.

Kurdish demonstrations in Qamishlo, Hassaka, Amouda, Afrin and other parts of Kurdistan, on March 12, 2004, represented a ceaseless confrontation between Syrian authorities and the Kurds. However, what characterized the “March popular protest” is that, it has erupted in a different regional and global political context. The totalitarian regime of Assad is isolated and with sustaining pressure, it may disintegrate from within.

The international community, for long decades, has ignored the suffering of the Kurdish people. The kurds are responding to the new appeals for democracy in Middle East, generated by the repeated and strong plea from the USA and the West. They want to be an active part in the process of democratization of the region and are ardently asking for their legitimate and inalienable rights of self-determination. These rights are clearly stated in the UN convention. The Kurds and the peoples in the region have listened to what Mr. Bush said in November 2003: "Our part, as free nations, is to ally ourselves with reform, wherever it occur.

We are convinced that without your direct intervention, the state brutality and massacres will not cease against the Kurds and Arabs in Syria. The ruling Baath party must realize that it cannot continue ruling through repression. The international community must support the current Kurdish uprising which is for democracy, peace and justice. The more enlarged the space of democracy and justice, the danger of terrorism is reduced and vice versa. We, in the KCNME are for a referendum in Syria as we are for a referendum in Iraq, where Kurdish people can express freely his will on his own future. The same right for the Arabs and other communities as well. More than 70 years of imposing an alien state and culture in Kurdistan, has failed in all parts of divided Kurdistan. In order to spare lives and human suffering, we have to avoid the past mistakes. The peaceful and democratic Middle East will emerge when all peoples have equal rights to choose freely the form of governance they wish.

George W. Bush stated: "We cannot turn a blind eye to oppression just because the oppression is not in our own backyard. No longer should we think tyranny is benign because it is temporarily convenient ? our great democracies should oppose tyranny wherever it is found.." All nations in the Middle East are looking forward to see this new shift in policy is fulfilled.

Nations of the Middle East will lose confidence if the words are not translated into actions.

The “Greater Middle East” for the KCNME is that Middle East, which is freed from despotism and where all nations, have freely chosen their future and the future of their children.

The Kurdistan Centre for the New Middle East (KCNME), established on 22 January 2004

The Kurdistan Centre for the New Middle East (KCNME) is a non-for-profit community based organisation works in Kurdistan and in Diaspora, utilising local and international laws, treaties and conventions to achieve its objectives and gains the support of local and international institutions. It is an ethical and an equal-opportunity organisation, promoting the culture of democracy and tolerance in the Middle East.

The KCNME strives to provide a diverse range of community development activities such as cultural, linguistics, educational, environmental, health and recreational.

The KCNME promotes the research on Kurdish language, art, literature, history and environment, more broadly on cultural heritage. It strives to protect, revive and enhance the diverse and distinct Kurdish autochthonous culture, including faiths of different ethnic and religious groups, promoting them to the inhabitants themselves and to the international communities, more particularly to the ethnic groups and nations in the Middle East.

The KCNME endeavours to enhance and develop the skills and knowledge of Kurdistanis to promote social progress and better standards of life in the society and to fully achieve their capacities. It supports and advocates on behalf of the deprived members of the community such as children, women and other disadvantaged groups to facilitate their full participation in developing Kurdish society.

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