by Marie-Therese Belisle Nweke

Wednesday, December 11, 2024

This is much to chew on, and the Syrian people, in my view, are just being faced with an exchange of “blak dawg fu monki”. Though “monki” is a bit more slick than “blak dawg,” with its current utterances to influence and change the general perception of its Islamic fundamentalist colour. The unfortunate Syrians, after 54 years of dictatorship by the Assad family, despite their current heartfelt celebrations, are in for a long, long haul. Israel, taking advantage of the present fluid situation in this ancient nation, has carried out more than 480 air strikes over it, particularly in the capital, Damascus, destroying 15 naval vessels, anti-aircraft batteries and weapons production sites in several cities. Israel has also unilaterally occupied Syria’s part of the Golan Heights.

But it is the Kurds whom I sympathize with the most. They are scattered across four nations, and have been fighting for ages for a homeland of their own, as they have experienced great discrimination. About 9% of them are in Syria; 10% in Iran; and 15% to 20% in Iraq, where Saddam used to play “ping pong” with them. Numbering around 15 million, they make up 18% to 25% of Turkiye’s population. There are also almost 2 million Kurds living in Western Europe, with many in Britain.

In Turkiye, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan treats them like yesterday’s rubbish, and his government does not recognize them as a minority group, as only non-Muslim minorities have the status of official minorities. Yet the Kurds, besides being Sunni Muslim — including practicing Sufism  — are also Shia Muslim, as well as being  adherents of Christianity, Judaism, Alevism, Yazidism, Yarsanism and Zoroastrianism.

https://www.counterpunch.org/2024/12/10/understanding-the-rebellion-in-syria