Majority of the historical studies, and archaeological discoveries assure that the Kurds are one of the ancient people in the middle east. They took part in building the grandeur of civilisation in the area throughout the ages. They have established empires and kingdom before the birth of Jesus. It was in Kurdistan that the civilisation started and the first settlements (10000- 9000BC) and towns (9000 -7000BC) were established. Some of the more distinguish dynasties are the Mitanni (1600-1450 BC) and Media (600-700 BC). And during the islamic period many states and principalities appeared such as the Dustekiah state and principalities of Killis and Butan.

And due to the vital geopolitical position of kurdistan it became over the centuries a theatre for the struggles between nations, and the encounter point for battles and feuds that became a source of suffering and instability. This has negatively affected the development of the Kurdish people. Hence Kurdistan experienced the division as a result of the struggles between the ottoman and the Persian empire (al-Safwiyah empire) and consequently their agreement of Quasr Shirin of1639. This resulted in structural disfiguration in the path of the development of our Kurdish people and led to the blocking of its civil development and hence hindered its ability to build it own political existence.

After the first world ware and the shifting of the balance between the major international powers and despite the agreement of Sèvres 1920 that stressed on the right of the Kurdish people to erect their own political entity (in accordance with a general vote to be run among the Kurdish population that were subject to the ruling of the ottoman empire), the governments that signed the agreement of Sèvres 1920 discarded what was stated in the agreement items in relation to the Kurdish rights. And due the events relating to the advancements of the Turkish nationalists and the Turkish-Greek ware in the period 1919-1923 as well as the Turkish Soviet/Ukraine and agreement (march1921 and january.1922), many meetings were held (London 1921, paris1922, etc), these resulted in offering the Turks a more generous mitigation of the treaty. This was culminated in the congress and treaty of Lausanne 1923 that decided the division of lands of the peoples ruled by the ottomans as well as the redrawing of the borderlines in the area after the collapse of the ottoman empire and in accordance with interests of the countries that won the ware. The Kurdish people and its land of Kurdistan did not escape this colonialistic conspiracy, where the congress decided to give France and United kingdom the authority of managing parts of the Turkish heritage. The thing that led to the division of Kurdistan for the second time. This division was previously prepared in the agreement of Sykes- Picot of 1916, and thus two parts of Kurdistan were appended to the newly established Arabic entities. The largest part was appended to Iraq under the authority of the UK , which was called the protectorate of Iraq. The other part was appended to Syrian state or what was then called the union of Syrian States under the occupation of France. Consequently Kurdistan came under the control of four different countries in the region: Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria

And as soon as a part of Kurdistan came under the control of Syrian authorities, our Kurdish people started to request the French protectorate authorities to give the Kurds autonomy similarly to all the other Syrian peoples and states at that time

The alawin state, the Doroz state, the state of Aleppo and the state of Sham (Damascus) …etc.

The most complete set of demands was the one stated in the petition submitted by the leaders of the Kurdish clans and some prominent educated Kurdish men, poets and authors, to the meeting of the substantiating Syrian assembly on 23.june. 1928 in Damascus. The petition emphasised on the self ruling of the Kurdish people and comprised the following demands:

the use of the Kurdish language in the Kurdish regions and teaching it in schools..

replacing the civil servants in Kurdish regions by Kurds.

Creation of a Kurdish military corps in side the frame of French armed forces in order to protect the borders. Although the protectorate constitution had assured in its article-2 this right of the Kurdish people, many factors, particularly those taking into consideration the interests of the protecting government in regard to Turkey (the one that occupied majority of the land of Kurdistan), who off course was refusing the creation of any Kurdish entity in Syria, have hindered the execution of this article and thus prevented the acknowledgement of the Kurdish autonomy. On the other hand, the division of the Kurdistan joined the fate of the Kurdish people in Syria to the fate of the Arabs and other minorities in Syria, after the drawing of the new borderlines without the consent of both people. And thus both Arabs and Kurds found themselves obliged to join the forces especially with such historical ties that bound them against the crusaders and foreign invaders particularly during the days of Sladin (Salah ad-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub also known as al-Malik an-Nasir Salah ad-Din Yusuf I )

 To emphasise these strong bonds, the two people joined the resistance forces giants the French occupation. Where the Kurds played a major role in the revolt of Jabal-Al- Zawiyah led by Ibrahim Hanano, in the battle of Bayandor 1923 and Aamoda in al-jezira area, as well as important role in Damascus and Algutah revolts, all the way until the independence in the year 1946. And with the independence the country entered a new phase of struggle to fortify the footing of national independence. Where our Kurdish people did not hesitate -due its believe in the common fate- to perform its duty, where its sons showed exceptional examples of bravery time after time during the fight against the aggression and in order to protect the national interests , sustain its unity and its civil development. However, all the successive governments in Syria and particularly those came by the end of fifties and later on , ignored the natural partnership between the Kurds and the Arabs as well all the other minorities, this was due to some chauvinistic inclinations, and thus Syria became: The Syrian Arab Republic. This indicated clearly the rejection of the existence of the Kurds as a second biggest nation in the new country where is the Kurdish population represents more than 11% of the total population. These Kurds live on there own land which is part of historical Kurdistan, which consists of about 20000 km2 and includes the regions of Jezira, Kobani and Kurdag. In addition there has been a total blackout regarding the national role of the Kurdish people and its national democratic movement. This movement was expressed clearly in an organised form during the summer of 1957 by the establishment of the Democratic Party of Kurdistan in Syria. The leaders and party men of the movement were collectively arrested and hunted everywhere. They were exposed to all sorts of physical and psychological torture and had to stand trials in front of summary courts of justice where the harshest sentences were given as an expression of the new Arab chauvinism that was targeting the erasing of the existence of the Kurdish people and obstruction of the crystallisation of the Kurdish issue in Syria as an issue of people and land, this was done by impeding the Kurds from proceeding in their just struggle.

And the successive regimes that ruled the country did not stop from denying the existence of our Kurdish nation or from punishing the Kurdish opponents, in contrary they practised a systematic chauvinistic policy, targeting the distortion of the presence of the Kurdish people and the exclusion of its existence. This was demonstrated in the application of many racist projects since the begging of the sixties. Starting with the irregular population count that was restricted to the governorate of Jezira (Al-Hasakah) on the 25th.october. 1962. The count was targeting the alteration of the demographic composition in governorate which is distinguished by an absolute Kurdish majority. Based on this racist project the Syrian citizenship was withdrawn from about 150000 Kurdish citizens at that time. This was done under the cover of different vague grounds and arguments, that were completely far from the reality. And then the colonial project of the Arabic belt that started in the begging of the seventies (1973) and hence a belt of complex Arabic settlements was established. These amounted to 34 settlements alongside the Syrian-Turkish border in the governorate of Al-jezira over a distance of 350 km and over a wideness of 10-15 km. These sattelments were called the state farms where enormous pieces of fertile agricultural land was taken from the Kurdish owners and delivered to the Arab settlers that were brought from the desert area in the centre of Syria (mostly from the governorate of RAQQA and ALEPPO). Obviously this targeted the entrapping of the Kurds by Arab settlers so that the demographic and geographical extention to the rest of Kurdistan in Turkey would be rived. The part of Kurdistan appended to Syria represents a natural demographic and geographic continuity with the rest of Kurdistan . By cutting the part appended to Syria by Arab settlers the Syrian regimes were trying to make ground for there false claims stating that the Kurdish existence in Syria was only temporary and the Kurds in Syria were not more than emigrants came from Turkey to escape the Turkish aggressive suppression that followed the Kurdish revolts.

And there is a project targeting the expunging of the Kurdish existence , and this is the the project of Arabizing of the names of all Kurdish villages, towns and Kurdish homesteads even the names of mountains, and archaeological places. Also the given names to the new-borns that are originated from Kurdish language and that could mean something in Kurdish. The arabizing also includes a total prohibition of the use of Kurdish language. All these things aim at the dispossessing of the Kurds of their national democratic rights they also result at the end in wiping away all the signs of Kurdish nationality in the part of Kurdistan annexed by Syria as well as arabizing the Kurds by force. 

In the light of the historical facts of partnership between the Arabs, Kurds and other minorities in this country, and based on national sufferings as well as the suppression of the Kurdish nation in Syria that deprives the Kurds from the simplest democratic and national rights, and building on the fact of the unwillingness of the successive regimes to understand the Kurdish issue, the existence of people's movements/ organisations to defend the legitimate rights of the Kurdish people. And also to reject the policies of discrimination, assimilation and arabizing by force. Thus, our party the Kurdish party of Yekiti in Syria is a result of a series of organisational unification between different units of different Kurdish parties in Syria. This party has been created to express the well of the Kurdish people in accordance with the Kurds's own view of the matter. This party has also been founded to play an effective role in the struggle of freeing the Kurdish nation from oppression and to regain the national rights of the Kurds. This party has as a target to set up the real foundations of national unity that is built on the acknowledgement of both the multi-nationality, multi – politics, and on basis of democracy and justice. This is to put the country on the right path of civilisation and democracy. Our party believes in political dialog and the democratic practices in achieving its goals. These believes are deep and thus our party refuses all sorts of violence. In its daily work it depends on all kinds of people's peaceful struggle such as: publications, campaigning, protesting , demonstration, gatherings, strikes, etc.

The party derives its power from the enormous forces of the Kurdish people in Syria, no matter class status, faction. In front line these we place the working class. The party in its path is guided by the scientific methodology and in its tackling of the issues of man kind and society. The party also believes in democracy as the best way of steering societies based on the following principles:

Peaceful exchange of authority via fair elections, freedom of speech (freedom of media and press), a multiparty political system, the freedom of individuals, freedom of minorities, freedom of religion, sects and ethnicity, and the freedom of establishing political parties, unions, etc. and other smellier principals.

Our party's identity is better defined through a series of duties of struggle on many different levels:

The party's Duties and The Program Items

 The party strives for the establishment of foundations of democratic processes in the framework of Kurdish Movement. This is to make clear the democratic side of the strive of this movement in its opposition to chauvinistic policies with its racist contents.

Structuring the forces and the efforts of the Kurdish parties via the construction of an effective frame of struggle, based on clear foundations, no matter the name of this frame ( front, alliance, assembly, etc). In such a manner that it is qualified for the representation of the Kurdish people as a whole, a true representation that eliminates the phenomenon of weakness and division.

The continuation of the work for achieving the amalgamation units between the parties that are politically and ideologically close, as a better unification choice, before proceeding to aligned or frontal alliance frames. Thus first of all it is necessary to reduce the large number of Kurdish parties through organisational units, particularly that there is not any deep political or ideological differences between the Kurdish parties that may prevent the success of these organisational units.

Working for the availability of clear constants that may be used as a measure for the evaluation of the role and the directions of every corps and their true nationalism. This is to prevent the parties of the Kurdish movement from sliding to the position of bargaining in a manner that harms the Kurdish case and distorts its image.

Exposing and condemning the bargaining and dubious trends that attempts to downgrade the respect of the Kurdish people and disfigures the basis and nature of the Kurdish case. This will be in the framework of Kurdish movement so that the right healthy trends could be promoted.

 Article 2:

 Implementing the different public mobilisation means, in order to attract the broad segments of Kurdish people in the face of chauvinistic policies.

Working towards achieving the true leader role of the people, by gaining their trust and by interacting with their concerns. And also giving assistance and guidance to the people and teaching them to come to the party and the movement to ask for help, to solve their social problems, instead of going to governmental institutions with their bureaucratic and extortionist methods. This is to place the party in the place that makes it the legitimate representative in the Kurdish regions.

Steering the economical activities in the Kurdish regions and giving them guidance and help so that they can invest their capabilities and their economical capacities in these regions. Also encouraging them to get involved in industrial enterprises and production so that to guaranty stability in the Kurdish society . This is to reduce the phenomenon of migration, by increasing job opportunities and getting rid of the problem of one sided production, and achieve diversity in production resources that will provide some sort of economical independence in the Kurdish regions.

Fighting the negative social conducts and traditions that affects the development of Kurdish society and the encouragement of all what is positive in the life of our people.

Giving attention to culture and encouraging all its resources, to elevate the level of social, political and economical consciousness, so that the people will be able of overcoming the phenomenon of ignorance and declination in their reality.

Spreading the Kurdish alphabet in the broadest range, and organising Kurdish language teaching circles for both reading and writing and for all ages, but particularly for new generations. This is to reduce Kurdish language illiteracy problems and to open the way so that Kurdish language and Kurdish culture could take its right place in the Kurdish society, both as official culture and language in order to reduce the harming effects of the chauvinistic tendencies of the Arabic culture.

Encouraging and supporting youth activities in the fields of sports and arts and working to plant the spirit of collaboration among them.

Supporting women and encouraging them in their efforts in getting education on all levels, in getting the right to work, in getting the right to freedom of speech and to participate side by side with men in the Kurdish struggle for national rights and democracy. This is from the view point of achieving equality between men ad women and discarding the mentality of underrating the woman's capabilities and role.

 Article 3:

Exposing and documenting all forms an visages of oppression against our Kurdish people : Events, dates, names, resolutions, ..etc. And then publishing these in the widest range in Syria and abroad. That is to bring up to date the public opinion as well as the official one, both on national and international level, so the truth about the sufferings of the Kurds under the chauvinistic policies of the government is known. This is to achieve sufficient amount of pressure against the regime to force it to abandon the oppression policy.

Exposing the arabizing policy in the Kurdish regions and countering it via motivating the

public against using the twisted Arabic names and instead to hold fast to the old Kurdish

names of villages, homesteads and towns that represent a characteristic of the Kurdish

nation in these areas.

The struggle to stop the intentional policy of ignoring the economical and social development in the part of Kurdistan annexed by Syria. And make available the requirements for the agricultural, industrial and public services so that to increase the availability of jobs and thus increase the social stability as well as increase the production rates and decrease the migration.

Woking for the annulment of the results of the out of the ordinary and discriminating public count. This is to be done by establishing partisan-patriotic working groups with specific duties of documenting the work of the victim of the out of the ordinary public count in governorate of Al-Jezira. This is to continue the contacts with political capacities and individuals as well as the national and international public opinion, in order to make them see the real picture of the tragedy and hence gain there support. All this, in addition to starting peaceful public resistances that would be aiming at the repossession of the

citizenship for those that have stripped of their citizenship and dispel the wrong that they

have been exposed to and also to compensate them for the damages done to them, In a

manner that would enable them of benefiting from the land similarly to other citizens.

Struggling for the cancellation of the settlement project known by the name Arabic belt ,

so that all deportees

to Euphrates valley could return to the places where they originally

were living. I addition, agricultural land should be given to needy Kurdish farmers in the

governorate of Al-Jezira.. This is to exterminate the wick of the social conflicts and tension.

Struggling for the cancellation of the policies of discrimination against our people and against the chauvinistic actions that are taken continuously by the governmental institutions. These actions that impairs the handling of sons and daughters of our Kurdish people deliberately. An example of this is the continuous dismissal of many Kurdish students from institutions of mandatory employment

. Another example is sacking Kurdish workers and citizens from governmental companies and civic establishments as well as the illicit transferring of the Kurdish employees. A third example is the provocative interrogations and inquests run by the different security agencies, when a Kurd applies for employment in a governmental institution. These often end with rejecting the applications submitted by the Kurds justified by the common excuse of " dangerous to the security of the country". The line of this type of struggle includes the condemnation of the policy of keeping the door shut for employment of qualified Kurds in diplomatic services and enrolment of the Kurds in military academies.

Struggling for the elimination of restrains against Kurdish language and Kurdish culture as well as the cancellation of the measures that plan to confine speaking of the Kurdish in governmental institutions, establishments and companies that operate in the Kurdish regions. This is always defined by the statement "No speaking in Kurdish".

 Article 4:

Reviewing the country's constitution so that a new article stating the existence of the Kurdish nation would be added , and so that the Kurdish people as the second nation in the country (of a population over 2 millions) is acknowledge by the constitution. The article shall state clearly that the Kurdish movement is the only, real and legitimate representative of the Kurdish people.

The Kurds and in accordance with their population number shall participate in running the countries affairs. This shall be done by the representation of the Kurds in all the governmental bodies including the lawmaking (parliament), judicial and the law-implementing ones. This would stress the national unity and confirm the multinational nature of the country. It will also remove the feelings of injects and outlandish among the Kurds.

Making the Kurdish language the official language in the Kurdish regions and the Kurdification of the basic school syllabus in all school levels, as well as teaching Kurdish as an essential subject in colleges and universities all over the country. Also establishing sufficient number of universities and colleges in the Kurdish regions, in order to satisfy the need for graduates in the Kurdish regions.

Designating certain hours on the national television and radio for broadcasting in Kurdish. Also giving permits to the Kurds to establishing local radio and television broadcasting channels in the Kurdish regions. Such channels shall take care of the Kurdish language and culture.

Establishing of a free Kurdish press (newspapers, magazines, etc.), printing works and publishing companies

. This is in addition to establishing Kurdish research centres on a national level.

Acknowledgement of the NEWROZ festival as a Kurdish national day for the Kurds and the whole country of Syria and making it an official free day all over the country.

Determination of the autonomy of the Kurdish regions so that:

All the local authorities, assemblies, directorates and establishments in the Kurdish

regions are in the hands of the Kurds. These must be established, organised and run

by the Kurds. Should there be other minorities or Arabs in the area in certain districts,

then they shall be treated as equals and shall participate in all the above mentioned

institutions.

B. The security (policing) responsibility in the area must be the responsibility

of its own residents. This shall be established via preparing a local cadre responsible

for law, security and tranquillity in the framework of the region.

Giving the regions of Kobani and Kurdag/Afrin a special status and cease their managerial adherence to the governorate of Aleppo. The directorial borders of these regions must be specified so that the consideration to the Kurdish population is taken into account.

Earmarking a certain percentage of the government's budget for the Kurdish areas

taking into consideration specifics of these areas's share of the countries total area,

participation in the gross national income, etc. It also must take into consideration,

the low level of civic services, underdevelopment and situation of chronic

abandonment.

 Article 5:

The party fights for preservation of the countries independence and its protection from foreign hostile interference in co-ordination with all national powers in the country.

The party struggles for the cancellation of all laws that limit the freedom of citizens, and restrict their initiatives, such as the law of state of emergency and martial laws. This is to liberate the public freedom and to ascertain the respect of human rights.

The party struggles for the release of all political prisoners in all the countries prisons. It also struggles for the prohibition of arresting people due to their political believes, unless stated by the law

.

Introducing a law that legalises the establishment of political parties, so that accordingly all sorts of parties that represent the different political streams in Syrian society could be established. And hence vitalise the political life and democratic awareness as well as crystallise the duties and responsibilities facing individuals and groups in conformity with principle of multi – politics

The struggle for guaranteeing the impartiality of the judicial system and the decency of its affiliates, so that interference, and overstepping here and there would disappear. And thus the statement " all are equal in front of law" becomes a reality.

The struggle against all sorts of exploitations and the struggle for defending the right to the daily bred for all citizens and working class. Also the struggle for the restriction of phenomenon of dispel, rottenness, bribery, etc. In addition the labour unions shall be activated so that they can defend the rights and the well being of the different segments in the society .

Working for the upsurge of national economy including all its sectors. This is by following available methods and paths, that may increase production and improve the living standard of the people, as well as putting a stop to unemployment and migration of hard labour and brains (intelligentsia). Also working to get rid of phenomenon of bureaucracy and rottenness in governmental management, the thing that hinders the development.

The party by it struggle in the framework of Syria, takes additional responsibilities to the national responsibilities for the Kurds in Syria. In taking such responsibilities on the national Syrian arena, the party meets with all other national powers in the country, but this does not contradict with the party being part of the Kurdistan liberation movement that is concerned with national freedom of the Kurds. This necessitates exchangeable duties between the parts of the Kurdish movement in all Kurdistan among themselves and towards each other. From this point of view our party bears national responsibilities in the direction of liberation movement in Kurdistan as well as in the direction of of the Kurdish case in general. These duties are:

Supporting and backing the struggles of the Kurdish people and its liberation movement in all parts of Kurdistan, and against injustice and policies of oppression, violence and warfare, practised on our people by the regimes in Ankara, Tehran and Baghdad. Also Supporting and backing the strive of all Kurds to gain their right to self-determination of their destiny according to the distinctiveness of each part of Kurdistan.

Supporting and backing the federal liberty in the Kurdistan of Iraq as a historical gain in the history of our Kurdish people. The thing that strengthens its structure and make available for it, the international recognition in the framework of Iraqi democratic federalism.

Working for the creation of joint national representation ( A Kurdistani Conference, National Co-ordination council,….etc), where all Kurdistani parties participate, from all parts of Kurdistan. This is to take part in unifying the efforts of the Kurdistani movement in its dialog with international public opinion, both on the official and unofficial level. This will help to solve the Kurdish issue completely and fully, in accordance with needs of stability and peace in the region. This joint national representation shall also strive for the availability of certain acceptable level of solidarity between the Kurdistani liberation parities. It shall also strive to solve Kurdish-Kurdish disagreements between the Kurdish parties.

Working for the reinforcement of the foundation of brotherly democratic collaboration between all Kurdestani powers, on the basis of mutual respect that discards policies of axis, association, custody and interference in each others affairs. Also the policy of one party having a monopoly on political ground shall be abandoned. In Addition the fights between Kurds –no matter cause and motivation- must be prohibited.

Supporting and backing the legitimate struggles of the Kurds in Lebanon, The republics of Caucasus and central Asia. These struggles that target the removal of injustice and any kind of discrimination against the Kurds, that prevents them from settling and enjoying any of their fair national rights, based on the mutual respect between the Kurds and their neighbouring nations.

Participation in the efforts and activities aiming to bring the Kurdish issue into all different international constellations and the United Nation's organisations. This is, in order to find a just solution for the issue the thing that would serve, peace and tranquillity in the region.  

The party supports the just efforts of the Arab nations that intend to reach unity and collaboration between themselves, based on the foundation of fighting underdevelopment and the respect of human rights as well as the respect of the well of other minorities and nations that are coexisting with them.

The party supports the struggles of people of Asia, Africa and Latin America, that are confronting regimes of militant dictatorship, in an effort to reach democratic freedom.

The party supports the struggles of all nations and people that are aspiring to national freedom and their own national entity.

The party have solidarity with all peace supporting powers, democracy supporting powers and all organisations of human rights in their efforts to fortify peace, to reduce wars and exploitation, to establish respect for human rights and to confront the regimes of dictatorship, oppression and backwardness.

The party supports the adoption of the discipline of dialog and negotiation for instituting security and justice and even peace between the Arabs and Israel and all over the world. This must be based on the resolutions of the united nations and the decrees of the Security Council. The party also adopts the policy of abolishing and eliminating military alliances as well as the policy of combating terrorism and racial discrimination.

The party supports the efforts intending to fight illiteracy, hunger and diseases on the international level. Particularly among the people of poor countries. That is because the problem is becoming an immense vital issue , that represents a noble human obligation, that must be accomplished first of all to serve development and human civilised values.

The party supports the efforts planning to fight pollution and take care of environment on the local, regional and global levels. This is considered by the party as a human duty that must concern each individual and group all over our earthly globe.

The party supports all the efforts going on for the elimination of mass destruction weapons and for the prohibition of their production, in order to protect humanity from their threats. 

The draft of the political program plan

For the Yekiti party in syria

November 1999

The part under the control of the Russian is often omitted by Kurdish leftwing politicians (comment by the

translator)

the states of the so called the union of Syrian States

Also called "WAFIDIN" in arabic the thing that means new commers or immigrants.

Graduates of certain schools, colleges….etc must be employed by government upon graduation. Such institutions are called institutions of mandatory employment.

Business and profession of the commercial production and issuance of literature, information, musical scores or sometimes recordings, or art, newspaper publishing and software publishing.

Butt arresting is stated nowadays by all sorts of laws such as the ones mentioned under point 2. (a comment by the translator)