-
The Kurds, True Patriotism, and the Opportunity That Is About to Slip Away
In moments of great transformation, history does not forgive those who fail to see the signs when they could have altered the course. At the crossroads of destiny, leaders are not measured by the slogans they proclaim, but by what they have achieved or squandered when tested.
Today, the government of Ahmad Al-Shara stands at a critical turning point, and until now, it still has a genuine opportunity to save itself and all of Syria, if it abandons the rhetoric of exclusion and bravely engages in sincere national dialogues, to discover that the demands of the Kurdish movement have never been a threat, but rather a noble call to build a homeland that accommodates everyone.
It could have, and still can, establish a profound national project that consolidates a democratic, federal, decentralized, and pluralistic Syria, if it extends its hand sincerely to the Kurds and all Syrian components, rather than relying on the voices of the orphans of Baathism and the Takfiri Arab nationalists who rushed behind the shameful racist response.
The recent response, undoubtedly inspired by its Turkish architect, early revealed the falsehood of the slogans and unveiled a sick exclusionary culture that denies all values of national partnership, reigniting the worst practices of old tyranny in a shabby new guise. Yet despite its severity, it can be a point of reflection if the will is there.
If the Al-Shara government realizes that the Kurds, for a hundred years, have only demanded a free and just homeland that embraces everyone, and if it understands that their project based on federalism and decentralization is a lifeline for Syria, not a burden, it would be capable of building a resilient nation alongside them.
The Kurdish agreement was not a conspiracy as the ignorant try to depict it, but a project of salvation for a sinking Syria, and the demands of the Kurds are not a burden on Syria's unity, but its true safety valve. Those who reject this truth betray the future of Syria, not just the Kurds, and those who close the door to partnership close the door to salvation for all.
With such decayed exclusionary mentalities, nations cannot be built, and what past regimes from Baathism to the Assads, as well as Turkey's jihadist tools, failed to realize is that the era of exclusion has irrevocably ended and that free peoples will no longer accept to be reduced to a nationalist slogan or a linguistic trench.
The Kurdish hand remains extended, despite the wounds, and the Kurdish movement, despite all the insults, still believes that salvation for Syria goes through justice for all. However, this hand will not remain extended forever.
The coming Syria, if it is to have a life, will only be built by explicitly recognizing the rights of Kurds, Syriacs, Yazidis, Armenians, Arabs, Druze, Assyrians, Alawites, and all its children, without double standards, and can only be established with a decentralized federal system that ends the era of guardianship and national arrogance.
Our advice to Ahmad Al-Shara's government is to not cling to the illusions of an artificial majority, and not to bet on the racism of the moment, as history does not forgive those who lag behind the change train.
Those who do not read the signs of the times will fade away with the smoke of great collapses, among the victims of ignorance and racism that preceded them, and the regimes of Baathism and the Assads are prime examples.
The opportunity still exists for those who have the courage to reflect on themselves, before reading the Fatiha for those who preceded them to the garbage dumps of history.
Dr. Mahmoud Abbas
