On March 12, 2009, Egyptian intellectual Tarek Heggy published, on the left-liberal website Al-Hiwar Al-Mutamaddin, an article criticizing the Syrian regime's policy of discrimination against the Kurdish minority in the country. The article is the third in a series by Heggy on Arab regimes' treatment of minorities; the first article dealt with Copts in Egypt, [1] and the second with Shi'ites in Saudi Arabia. [2]
The following are translated excerpts from Heggy's article: [3]
"If I were a Kurd from Syria, I would not hesitate for a moment to raise my voice so that the entire world hears of the crimes planned against the rights of my people, aimed at harming its existence and eradicating its language and culture. I would fight, with all democratic and nonviolent means, to condemn the special 1962 census, taken within 24 hours, in [Syria's] Al-Jazirah province - which led to the unjust revocation of Syrian citizenship for over 100,000 Kurds. Today, [these Kurds, who] number over 400,000, live at the margins, with no civil rights whatsoever.
"If I were a Kurdish Syrian, I would not be deterred even for one moment from fighting against the racist Arab program implemented in Al-Jazirah province in 1972, in accordance with the decision by the Ba'th party provincial leadership, to expropriate lands belonging to Kurdish citizens of the province and to distribute them to Arab farmers brought in by the Syrian authorities from the rural areas of Aleppo and Al-Raqah provinces - on the claim that their farmlands had been flooded by water from the Euphrates dam. Is it logical for authorities take over the lands of Kurdish farmers by force, and to distribute them among these farmers, newly arrived from outside the province?...
"If I were a Kurdish Syrian, I would sob at the top of my lungs, so that the world, from corner to corner, will know that I and my children are prohibited from studying, reading, and writing in our beautiful Kurdish language, the language of my fathers. [This is] aimed at forcing upon the younger generation the Arabic language - which we do appreciate and respect - and thus weakening the strength of our language, culture, and national folklore, of which we are proud...
"If I were a Syrian Kurd, I would fight against the policy of Arabization, that has replaced the names of the Kurdish villages, towns, and cities, and I would restore their original names. No Palestinian city or town goes unrepresented in the Kurdish areas - without these names helping the Palestinian cause one bit. Is it logical that in this century - considered the century of freedom and human rights, the century of the spread of the culture of pluralism and tolerance - a man must fight for his language and his name?
"If I were a Syrian Kurd, I would make efforts to bring the suffering of my people to the knowledge of the entire free world, which has consistently kept silent about the March 2004 massacre of Kurdish boys...
"If I were a Syrian Kurd, I would shout at the top of my lungs... to demand an accounting from those who gave the order to shoot the Kurdish youths on the Norouz [New Year] holiday in 2008...
"If I were a Syrian Kurd, I would come out against the racist policy of discrimination implemented against my people, the Kurdish people - whose children are not accepted into the country's diplomatic corps, military academies, or higher institutes - due to nothing less than racism...
"If I were a Syrian Kurd, I would not hesitate to harness my energies for the sake of national, public, democratic, and civil activity, in order to put an end to the state of emergency and the military laws that have controlled the entire Syrian people since the 1963 Ba'th coup, and in order to build a state of law, hand in hand with anyone who yearns for the good of his homeland...
"The issue [for which I will fight] is citizenship, equality, and justice - and there no other way for me but to act but peaceably, democratically, and nonviolently."
Endnotes:
[1] See MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 1623, "Egyptian Intellectual Tarek Heggy: 'If I Were a Shi'ite from Saudi Arabia…'" June 15, 2007, Egyptian Intellectual Tarek Heggy: "If I Were a Shi'ite from Saudi Arabia…".
[2] See MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 1587, "Egyptian Muslim Intellectual Criticizes Egypt's Treatment of Copts," May 16, 2007, Egyptian Muslim Intellectual Criticizes Egypt's Treatment of Copts.
[3] Ahewar.org, March 12, 2009.
