Elections in the Syrian Kurdish northeast are postponed

The vote was initially scheduled for June 11. The Electoral Commission has delayed it “at least until August” but there are no official dates. Detractors accuse the movements of separatism and wanting to monopolize power.

Damascus () – The Syrian Kurdish authorities have postponed the controversial administrative elections in the northeastern territories of the country that are under their control, which had triggered threats from the Turkish enemy and caused more than one concern in the American ally. The vote, initially scheduled for June 11 and now postponed “at least until August” – although no dates have been set – would have been the first involving the seven zones that are part of the semi-autonomous region, with an electoral base of about six million voters. A large territory in which Kurds and Arabs live (not always in harmony), a consequence of the fragmentation of the State that followed the civil war between rebel groups and President Bashar al-Assad, with jihadist tendencies. Questions are also raised among Christians, victims of community abuse and attacks in the past.

The electoral commission announced that it had delayed the vote “in response to the request of political parties and alliances” that regretted a campaign period that was too short. Local officials and candidates insist that voting is crucial for local representation and will contribute substantially to improving public services in the region (Daarnes, acronym for Democratic Autonomous Administration of the Region of North and East Syria). However, critics accuse the commission and the Kurdish movements of separatism and wanting to monopolize power, while expressing fears that conditions are not in place to hold free and fair elections in northeastern Syria, which has been under their control. control for a long time.

As reported to the AFP Saleh Muslim, co-president of the Democratic Union Party (PYD), about 18 parties are participating in the elections, including the Democratic Union itself and the independent movement. The Kurdish leader believes that the elections were delayed for “internal” reasons, but later added that the Commission could also have taken into account “political circumstances.” Syrian Kurds, who have suffered decades of marginalization and oppression by the ruling Baath party, have come to rule about a quarter of the country, including Arab-majority areas, after the withdrawal of government forces and groups pro-Assad.

The armed wing of the PYD is the powerful People’s Protection Units (YPG), which controls the Syrian Democratic Forces, the de facto army that controls the region. In the past, Kurdish-majority forces led the fight to overthrow the Islamic State, and counted on the help – military and logistical – provided by the United States. On the other hand, the main “enemy” is represented by Turkey, which considers both the PYD and the YPG as branches of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, the infamous PKK considered a terrorist organization and banned by the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Ankara, on the other hand, controls two strips of the border in the north and considers the upcoming elections a test of separatism. Since 2016, the Turkish army has carried out a series of ground operations to expel Kurdish forces from the border areas of northern Syria, and Erdogan himself has threatened to launch a new operation to prevent the vote.

In this sense, Turkish state television TRT yesterday welcomed the decision to delay the vote and added that Ankara’s position “has borne fruit.” The Kurdish elections have also raised the ire of the main supporter and ally, Washington, which considers Turkey a key element of the Atlantic Alliance (NATO). “Elections in Syria must be free, fair, transparent and inclusive,” US State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said in a statement last week. “We do not believe,” he added, “that the conditions for such elections in eastern Syria are met,” and he specified that the United States has urged local authorities “not to go ahead with the vote.”

Finally, Christians in the area also express many doubts about the vote, and an important part of them would not recognize its legitimacy and importance. The community denounces abuses and violations, from confiscations of homes and lands to the destruction of churches in the past, and festivals held under threat from local and foreign powers.