VIDEO: Syrian Kurds protest ‘unjust’ exclusion from constitutional committee

QAMISHLI (Kurdistan 24) – Thousands of people in cities and towns under the Kurdish-run self-administration in northeast Syria gathered on Wednesday to protest their “unjust” exclusion from the UN-brokered committee tasked with drafting a new constitution for Syria.

In the northern Kurdish-majority city of Qamishli, hundreds demonstrated in front of United Nations offices.

Protesters carried placards criticizing their exclusion from the committee and condemning the UN and the international community.

“We will not abide by a constitution we didn’t participate in its drafting,” one sign read.

Most demonstrators carried photos of their martyrs who fought and died while fighting the so-called Islamic State in Syria.

“We ask for our rights, we don’t ask to take others’ rights,” an elderly woman said while carrying the photo of her son who lost his life in the fight against the terror group.

“We sacrificed the blood of our sons and daughters to defend Syria,” she cried.

Another man chanted: “11,500 martyrs [from this region] fought and died for the country, and there are also 24,000 injured and disabled who fought for the country.”

Additionally, officials of the self-administration say the current constitutional committee does not represent all of the Syrian people, especially the roughly five million people in northeast Syria who do not have representatives in the current committee.

“As the Kurds and other components of this region are not included, the Syrian crisis will be prolonged and exacerbated,” an official participating in the protest said.  

Dozens of signs also read “No to New Lausanne Treaty,” referring to the Treaty of Lausanne (1923) when the Kurdish territory in the Middle East was partitioned between Turkey, the French mandate of Syria, the British mandate of Iraq, and Iran.

Some other signs read: “The constitutional committee includes representatives of Da’esh [ISIS] and Nusra Front. Where are the representatives of the fighters of freedom and peace?”

Demonstrators used words such as Da’esh, the Arabic acronym for the Islamic State, and Nusra Front, which is the Syrian offshoot of the al-Qaida terrorist organization, to refer to the Turkish-backed Syrian opposition.

They also used the term “fighters of freedom and peace” to refer to the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), of which the leading component is the People’s Protection Units (YPG) and the all-female brigade of Women’s Protection Units (YPJ).

On Sept. 23, the UN announced the long-awaited formation of the committee to include 150 members, split evenly between Syria’s government, the opposition, and Syrian civil society.

But the Kurdish administration in northeast Syria that controls nearly 30 percent of the country has said its exclusion was “unjust.”

Syrian Kurds are scattered across several factions, including a few members allied with the Assad regime such as the Damascus-based Syrian Kurds’ National Initiative (SKNI).

Another faction is part of the Turkish-backed Syrian opposition, the Kurdish National Council, referred to as KNC, or ENKS in Kurdish.

The third and more active group on the ground, with its own military force, is the Kurdish-run self-administration governing the country’s northeast. Its military force, the SDF.

The SDF-run self-administration has been excluded from several international negotiations on Syria, including the Geneva and Sochi talks.

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany

(Additional reporting by Lava Asaad)