When Eyub Mohamad was a boy, security forces beat his father into paralysis. His...
QAMISHLI, Syria - When Eyub Mohamad was a boy, security forces beat his father into paralysis. His offence was typing leaflets in Kurdish, banned under Syria’s ruling Baath party.
Mohamad’s father died in 2011, the year Syria’s conflict began. He did not see Kurdish fighters carve out autonomous rule across north and east Syria. He did not see his son, now 34, become a teacher at a Kurdish school in the city of Qamishli on the border with Turkey. Kurdish activists who could not protest without risking arrest now have printing presses, festivals and television channels.
On one side, there is the Turkish army, which has swept across the border twice to roll back the Kurdish YPG militia in northern Syria. Washington later changed course, and intends to leave some troops, along with forces from European allies, preserving for now the security umbrella that helped Kurdish leaders deepen their autonomy.In the early days of Syria’s conflict, when Haj Ali and other activists tried introducing a Kurdish class, the government shut down the schools.
The plans face opposition not just from the government but also from some Arab communities, Kurdish parties opposed to the PYD and parents who fear for their children’s future, several teachers said. “Honestly, I asked him what if something happens to you?” she recalled. “He said, ‘I’m doing this for your children’s future...for them to learn their language, for people not to lose their rights’.”Despite historic enmity, Kurdish fighters and Damascus have seldom clashed during Syria’s war, at times fighting common enemies including Turkey-backed rebels.
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