The Syrian People are 'waiting for Godot'

Kurdish YPJ female fighter in Syrian Kurdistan. photo: Courtesy of kurdishstruggle/flickr

Omar Sindi, Washington | Exclusive to iKurd.net

A more than century old colonial system stems from 1916 “Sykes & Picot Agreement” with no institutions left, rendered politically desolate in place in most Middle Eastern countries, if not all. They have generated these monstrosities such as the nihilistic ISIS/ISIL-the violent extremists of the Islamic State, dictators, autocrats, corruptors, where there is no detail for that tapestry. There is a contradiction within Middle Eastern societies where there is no will to understand the talent differences between the present and past. However, people remain deprived from a basic democratic role, and the election process exists only on paper. These myopic visions have underprivileged the people of the Middle East robbed of their potentials, such political liberties, economic stagnations, depredations and the list goes on; the regional people have been living in purgatory status, ever since these wars have been breaking out, with each war giving birth to the next one.

The ongoing civil war calamity on its 6th years with no end onsite; that is the product of misguided policy- decades of oppressive rule under Bashar Assad’s dynasty, and his Baathist political party’s mischief, these uprising movements in Syria weren’t just a sickle of whirlwind, it was a product of political discourse for a long period. As uprising grew louder against Assad‘s role in Syria, so did anti Assad movements-many opposition’s religious and non- religious parties such as Al Nusra front Terrorist organization, a remnant of al-Qaeda, and the Free Syrian Army, FSA, which in December 2011, coordinated with the so called Syrian National Council, and many others; the dilemma that the Syrian Arab political parties don’t want to comprehend is that Syria is not a homogenous society, it is heterogeneous one, the largest of which being Kurds, Alawites, the supporter of Bashar Assad’s regime, Druze, and many other minorities.

The Syrian oppositions do not appear to have a clear vision policy or political reform agendas at hand; they just appear to want to take power in Damascus, the Capital. If these oppositions want real reform, that should include all political parties regardless of ideological differences, ethnicities, Kurds being one of the largest minority with Syrian communities, and at the same time, they are the most effective fighting forces against ISIS/ISIL-“Daesh”, on the behest of the Turkish government, including the other reactionary governments, there are “ancient sectarian hatreds” within this region, and the Kurds are excluded from the opposition’s gathering for the future of Syria; these opposition movements should be called proxy movements.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his government are in the state of denial of his realpolitik, and are not against ISISL/ISIS (Daesh), they are against Kurdish aspiration in Rojava; so far, the demagoguery of Turkish policy in this junction has not garnered any international support, and on the other hand, the Rojava Kurds gained international support, including the United States, Russia, and the majority of the European Union. President Erdogan‘s reckless policy on this issue should be reversed, the Kurds are here to stay; if this Kurdish phobia dissent is to be reversed from the Turkish government Authority mindset; the perspective would be better first for Turkey- herself, and for the whole region as well.

However, Erdogan’s erratic behavior comes from the indecisive and ineffectiveness of US President Barack Obama’s doctrine foreign policy. President Obama’s motto is “We will destroy this barbaric (ISIS) terrorist.” The question is when! In 2003 at the time the US was about to get rid of the dreaded man Saddam Hussein, and his Baathist regime, the Turkish government was too agitated about Iraqi Kurds, and threatened to invade the Kurdish region, then US President George W. Bush gave a stern warning to Turkey; he said (paraphrasing) “we told Turkey not to go, and we expect them not to go.” Syrian calamity of civil war still is ongoing into the sixth year, with no end appearing on the horizon for this carnage; the oppositions and warring factions are so fragmented, despite the relentless international efforts to get these warring factions to sit down in one table to talk, they cannot agree to sit together even to discuss what they disagree.

These fragmentations are also reflective of the Syrian society of multi-ethnic, multi religious people- it is also the product of a vast mess of an autocratic and corrupt regime in Damascus for generations, unable to mend the fences among the various segments of Syrian society; therefore the trust between these political parties of various ethnicities disappeared, but all is gone, under political upheaval in Syria. Let’s hope the current ceasefire among some of the warring factions will hold, and expand to broader dimensions for the sake of innocent people who are dying in this crisis; may the same give breath to those rudimentary politicians, starting from President Erdogan to Bashar Assad, and many others who only see the political solutions through their own prisma angle.

Even though many regional and international state actors don’t like separation, but the quid pro quo is fait accompli, the genie is out of the bottle, and there are no choices left on the table, only separations for the broken and unraveling Syria as a unitary state. Previously, I wrote on this subject in one of my essays. Syria has all of the emblems of a failed state. For example, since the split of former Yugoslavia, the ethnic cleansing, the mass killings, and the fighting between these people have ceased. Well, in the beginning of the “Arab spring” on December 17, 2010; Mohamed Bouzizi, a fruit vendor who dropped out of school to support his family, set himself on fire in desperation after repeated harassments by authority in his hometown of Sidi Bouzidi-Tunis. The people expected a good political outcome from the “Arab Spring” and real reforms from the fraught period, they didn’t expect an “Arab Winter”, and therefore Syria was no exception, the people expected that the oppositions would bring real reform, such as democratic change, and an improvement in quality life for ordinary people; not polarizations.

Alas, I guess; but I guess the Syrian people are simply “waiting for Godot”!

Omar Sindi, a senior writer, analyst and columnist for iKurd.net, Washington, United States.