A square in the liberated city of Minbic. Picture by Ercan Ayboga.It
is getting more and more complicated here. Almost all parties at war
are located
in close proximity to this region in Northern Syria. Most notably the
Turkish army, acting as an occupant, wants to take Minbic – an
endeavour which, although announced by Turkish president Erdoğan,
has so far failed due to the resistance of the local population, as
well as the
US and Russia.
The
city of Minbic was liberated on August 12, 2016 by the Syrian
Democratic Forces (SDF, arabic: QSD), thus ending the "Islamic
State's" (ISIS) rule of more than two and half years. Shortly
before the liberation offensive started, the Minbic Military
Council
had been set up on May 31, 2016 by the QSD under the leadership of
the Kurdish People's and Women's Defense Units (YPG/YPJ). It
exercises military control over
the
Minbic region, located about 100 kilometres southwest of Kobanê,
which became known worldwide for its resistance. In autumn 2016, the
Military
Council
handed over the region's administration to the provisional Minbic
Civic
Council.
Consisting of Arabs, Kurds, Turkmens and Circassians,
the Civic
Council
has renamed itself the
Minbic
Democratic Civilian Administration Council
on March 12, 2017 and expanded
in size
in order to heighten its democratic legitimation.
The
significance of Minbic derives not only from its geostrategic
location in the Syrian
context,
but also from the political system which has been established
there from
August 2016,
namely with
the
Minbic
Democratic Civilian Administration Council which holds a very high
democratic standard and is supposed to serve as a model for a new
democratic Syria. This
will be the focus of this
interview which was conducted with the key representatives of the
Democratic Administration's
legislative,
among them the co-chairs
Sozdar Xalit (Kurd) und Faruk Maschi (Arab), as
well as Emel
Bozgeyik (Turkmen), Muhamed Dolmusch (Turkmen), Muhamed Tarik
(Circassian)
und Abdo Mustafa (Kurd).
What
kind of a city was Minbic before the war in Syria?
All:
Until 2011, about eighty percent of Minbic's population of roughly
100,000 were Arabs. However, more than ninety years ago the majority
of the population had been Circassian.
Shortly before the ongoing war, Kurds made up close to 15 percent,
while Circassians and Turkmens together
accounted
for only about five percent of the overall population in
Minbic.
Several decades ago a small Armenian community had existed as well,
which
emigrated to Aleppo though.
Both
commerce and agriculture have always been well
developed in Minbic. Economically the city was
in quite a good shape. The level of education is quite high as
compared to the surrounding areas.
Maschi:
The region's 63
Arabic tribes convened regularly for many years and came to terms
with the state, but
in
general
did
not
actively support it. The two biggest tribes sent one deputy
respectively to the Syrian parliament.
What
was the period between the beginning of the Syrian uprising and war
until shortly before ISIS' rule like in Minbic?
All:
The city of Minbic and its surroundings positioned themselves quickly
against the Baath
regime
from spring 2011 onwards. But there were heated discussions on
whether resistance should be peaceful or armed.
Members of the Democratic Self Government. Picture by Ercan Ayboga.
Dolmusch:
This
discussion was
held among Arabs as well as Turkmens. While the latter organised
themselves peacefully initially, a lot of them quickly changed their
mind when weapons, money and military training was pressed on by
Turkey. Thus the Turkmen society was of two opinions.
Maschi:
I,
together with my tribe positioned myself against the regime, but
rejected armed aggression. But many were in favour of them and the
Arabs were of divided opinions. Hardly anyone was on the side of the
regime.
All:
From 2011, up to 76 oppositional military brigades formed quickly,
all convening under the label of the Free Syrian Army (FSA).
Politically, the Kurds got organised mostly in the Movement for a
Democratic Society (TEV-DEM), an alliance of several Kurdish parties
including the Democratic Union Party (PYD), which quickly rose to be
the major force of Kurds throughout Syria. On the military level,
they assembled mostly under the Al-Akrad group, which belonged to the
more progressive parts of the FSA and was
on friendly terms with the YPG/YPJ.
FSA
rule in Minbic from July 2012 at first led to more political freedom
but it was a very chaotic period. Most FSA fighters on the one hand
could not cope
with
basic administrative tasks and on the other they began to enrich
themselves. Having
plundered
state institutions, they robbed civilians. After a few months the FSA
turned more repressive and started to fight among each other. The
population became dissatisfied. It was quite easy for the Al-Nusra
Front,
the Syrian Al-Qaida which was growing in strength,
to seize
power in spring 2013.
Right
at
the beginning,
Al-Nusra introduced sharia law and exerted greater political
pressure. Many people who were accused of criminal acts got their
hand chopped off. Theft, too, was part of Al-Nusra fighters methods.
While the FSA curtailed TEV-DEM's political work in the villages,
Al-Nusra began to oppress TEV-DEM in the city as well. In short,
Al-Nusra's short rule was far from social justice and freedom and was
heading speedily towards dictatorship and chaos. Thus, ISIS with it's
assertion of absolute Islam and a just system encountered no
difficulties in grabbing the power in Minbic.
Hotel where ISIS tortured people. Picture by Ercan Ayboga.
How
can we imagine ISIS' rule in Minbic, which lasted about three years,
to be like in practise?
All:
When the regime was ousted in 2012 the population of Minbic rose in
number at first. But with ISIS, it shrank to less than half of the
original number. Notably almost all Kurds and Circassians left the
city because they were seen as potential enemies.
Dolmusch:
When ISIS ruled in Minbic, they were not so much after Turkmens, but
in particular after Kurds. Because they feared them a lot.
All:
In the first months, ISIS conducted themselves quite cautiously in
the city. They even offered sweets to children on the streets. But
right at
the
beginning
they underlined
what is "halal" (permitted) and "haram"
(prohibited). The population watched ISIS rule passively at first.
But a few months later ISIS showed its true face and started to
control political, social, cultural and economic life in a formerly
unknown way. Any kind of objection to or infringement of the rules
imposed by them were met in the most brutal way. The most extreme
form of terror perpetrated by ISIS in Minbic was to lock up people –
545 persons in the course of about 3 years – in cages put up on
public places for days, not allowing relatives to come to
them,
and behead them in public days later, with many people being made to
attend by force. This was recorded on video in order to spread even
more fear of ISIS.
Bozgeyik
and Xalit: Women and also girls were subjected to special laws. They
had to wear the strictest type of chador in
public and
were only
allowed
to go out on the street when
accompanied
by a male relative, having
to walk 15 metres behind him. In order to receive a punishment it was
enough for
a
part of the woman's face to
be seen outside.
It sometimes happened that men lost sight of their wives or sisters
and were not able to find them again. Many women simply stayed at
home all the time because of this regulation.
Some
women had to continue working in the vegetable fields around the city
due to the difficult economic situation, a job greatly obstructed by
the chador, especially during summer. Certain products such as
tomatoes, tinned food or other things especially favoured by women,
were banned. In order to enforce restrictions more efficiently, even
a women's militia
was formed. Arrested women were tortured – shortly after liberation
traces of blood were seen in the women's jail – and in many cases
stoned to death in three public places. We are particularly pleased
that a tree has grown in exactly
one
of these places.
Women going to attend a demonstration. Picture by Ercan Ayboga.
All:
Under ISIS the economic situation in Minbic grew even more difficult
and life exceptionally expensive. They sold bread and one litre of
Diesel for 350 Syrian lira respectively (the price of which was only
about 40-50 lira in YPG-/YPJ-/QSD-controlled area at that time)
[equivalent to roughly 1,50 and
0,20 EUR]. Often, long queues formed at the distribution points,
although petroleum and crop were available in sufficient quantity in
ISIS territory. Sugar was very expensive, too, although it
was produced
in close-by Maskanah. Horrendous taxes were randomly exacted from
shop
owners
and merchants. ISIS financed their war this
way.
The foodstuffs available were rationed, with ISIS
fighters withholding the best parts
for themselves, justifying this with their alleged status as
"God's warriors". Most people
survived on money which came from relatives living outside.
The poorest, who asked for financial support, generally were told to
join ISIS as fighters.
All
schools in Minbic were closed by ISIS, our children could only attend
Islamic schools. When ISIS had enlarged their capacity of own schools
after some time they started to force all children into these
schools. There they were subjected to ideological brainwashing and
pressure to join ISIS from a young
age.
There
were so many more crazy bans as for example, eating in parks. Using a
mobile phone was prohibited in general. If someone was caught for the
first time, they
had to pay a high fine. In
case of repetition jail and torture loomed.
Not
everything which ISIS did can be linked to Islam. They
instrumentalised it for their regime of terror.
According
to your account ISIS was not supported by the population. But were
there not many people who actively supported them?
This
was the case only for a small part of the population, most of those
who remained adjusted
themselves.
We have to keep in mind that more than half of the population fled
from Minbic when ISIS ruled. But sadly so we have to say: Some
families positively
sold
their daughters to ISIS, partly for ideological and partly for
financial reasons. If you were close to ISIS and acted as an agent
you were for example allowed to work in one of the many small Diesel
refineries. Some became agents, we were scared not only on the street
but also in our
staircase. The majority
of the population positioned themselves
more and more explicitly
against ISIS from 2015. All in all three demonstrations against ISIS'
methods took place in Minbic, once even shops were closed. But all
attempts were suppressed in the most brutal ways.
Minbic is one of the few cities controlled by ISIS where
demonstrations against their methods took place at all.
Support
for ISIS was bigger among the armed groups than the civilians.
Unfortunately, an important part of the former FSA joined ISIS
militarily from 2014.
Shortly
before the liberation operation
started on May 31, the Minbic
Civic
and Military
Council
were
proclaimed. How did this
come
to be?
Xalit:
The
liberation of the Tishrin dam on the Euphrates through the QSD in
December 2015 slowly raised hopes that ISIS could lose its
sovereignty over the Minbic region. ISIS slowly lost its confidence
and rightly so. Because in the beginning of 2016, people and groups
who had fled Minbic convened with YPG/YPJ/QSD and representatives of
the three Rojava cantons and the newly founded Syrian Democratic
Council to prepare the liberation of Minbic. The former TEV-DEM
activists from Minbic were the motor of this enterprise. Since we
both had fled from Minbic before, we contributed a lot from the
start. First, the Minbic Military Council was founded in the
beginning of 2016, and then the Minbic Civic
Council on April 5, 2016. The representation of all parts of society
was so important to us that we reserved the seats for Circassians in
the 43 members strong Civic Council. Because almost all of them had
been forced to leave Minbic. The Civic Council used all the languages
spoken in minbic right from the start, the banners were in four
languages. The Military Council had women as members from the start,
we made this a point. However, they were hardly present in the media
at the time of the liberation operation.
Maschi:
It
was possible to
proclaim both
so swiftly because
of
the terror perpetrated by ISIS which
was of
utmost brutality and
the
hate against it on the one hand, and the active support of both
structures by the QSD and the Syrian
Democratic Council
on the other.
I myself have had a good relationship with the Kurds in Minbic and
close-by Kobanê for a long time. I have
always valued
having
actual
deeper relations with them as
an
important
goal, only then can we prevent other forces from playing us off
against each other. I also convinced many people in my
Al-Buberne-Clan, which is one of the biggest clans in the Minbic
region, of that. The Minbic Civic Council and the Military Council
which possesses an autonomous structure within the QSD, and the civil
council have collaborated closely right from the start, the task
sharing was quite good. This became apparent during the liberation
operation
which lasted about three months. The Military Council grew quickly
during this operation and reached several thousand members when
Minbic was liberated.
One of the partly destroyed neighborhoods in Minbic. Picture by Ercan Ayboga.
What
did you do as Civic Council, when the Minbic Military Council had
started the liberation operation?
Xalit
and Maschi: Before
and during the liberation operation we made great efforts to get in
touch with people in Minbic and refugees from Minbic in various
places and win them over for the liberation. The acceptance of the
Civic Council grew fast through this, which was of importance for the
time after liberation – we were confident of the success of the
operation. We had formed groups which, starting from June 2016,
immediately visited the liberated villages and informed about our
goals and intentions. The vast majority received us with joy and
relief. Apart from that we, together with volunteers, tended to the
many hundreds wounded in the course of the hard fights in Minbic. But
most of all we led discussions on how the administration of the city
and surrounding regions of Minbic should work. Every step during and
shortly after the liberation was important to gain the support of the
broad population. In fact we were all in all quite successful, and
were given charge of leading Minbic for the transitional period
without being questioned. From then on the population turned to us.
Can
you give us examples and impressions of how the population received
the liberation? What was especially important for you?
All:
You can compare the liberation from ISIS by the Minbic Military
Council and the Syrian Democratic Forces to the passage from hell to
paradise! Accordingly, spirits were particularly euphoric during the
first weeks. ISIS brutality had been so immense that many could
rejoice only then when they could meet the Military Council and
Democratic Forces fighters in person and not in combat position in
front of their houses. Then came cries of joy. This great joy could
be seen especially on women's faces. Many danced on the streets in
the first days. It was important for us that no attempt at lynching
took place. Tens of thousands returned to their houses within a few
weeks, among them many thousands from Turkey. A lot of people
approached us offering their help, or rather wanted to carry out
tasks in reconstruction. The population had seen that we bring
freedom and equality and do not want to exclude anyone or take
advantage of differences in favour of a small circle. The population
senses exactly this. Minbic has never lived through so much freedom
in its history. The joy is still huge, everyone can see this for
themselves
walking through the streets of Minbic. People's faces are full of
positive energy.
Which
were the first steps you undertook in Minbic? How has life developed
in more than half a year?
All:
During
the liberation process several dozens of buildings were destroyed
completely, and hundreds of them partly. This is very little compared
to many other Syrian cities which were fought over. One of the first
steps was to clear the debris very quickly. Right from the start we
made efforts to establish people's councils with broad participation
from the population in every city district and every place outside of
the city. In some places we quickly managed to build a democratic
structure with
women's
participation.
We are confident that we will manage to do the same everywhere within
a short period of time.
A
second wave of happiness went through the region when schools
reopened one month after liberation. They had been closed for three
years. We had successfully called on all former teachers for that.
The only change we have made to education so far is the abolition of
the subject on state and history which used to be taught on the basis
of Baath ideology. Kurds and Turkmens started to teach their children
in their mother tongue additionally a few weeks after the opening.
Tarik:
As of now we are not able to offer our children Circassian
language, which is also due to the fact that we do not speak our
language very often. But with the new school term we will start. This
is a huge challenge for us, because Circassian
hasn’t
been
taught neither in
Syria nor in Turkey. It is an incredibly wonderful feeling that
everybody can go to school in their own language.
All:
When the situation in Minbic became more stable in autumn and we as
Minbic
Civil
Council
had organised ourselves better, administration was officially
transferred to
us by
the Military
Council.
From then on, all important decisions regarding Minbic region were
made by our council of 43 members. One of the first decisions was to
ask the Military
Council
to build the
security structure, called Asayîş.
Economy
was freed from the many restrictions imposed on
it
in the last years. This was important insofar as the merchants of
Minbic were thus able to bring necessary goods from other regions.
But this does not suffice by far and the traded goods are expensive
in parts. But staple foods and other elementary goods and aids for
the needy are coming from the cantons Kobanê and Cizîrê. Now bread
– the large bread factory was restored immediately – and Diesel
in Minbic cost the same as in Kobanê and Cizîrê, and water supply
is working again. Electricity is delivered from Tishrin barrage
almost all day long free
of cost.
Mobile company Syriatel was allowed to repair the
telecommunication masts, and so people could talk to their relatives
in other parts of the country again.
The reconstructed bread factory. Picture by Ercan Ayboga.
Some
accused of spying for ISIS were given an open and democratic trial.
But only after a people's court, transparent to the Civic Council and
the public, had been established.
But
the liberation of Minbic has also led to people from regions where
ISIS and other antidemocratic forces or regimes are in control coming
to us as refugees. They say: “We
have heard that there is freedom here, life is better and no one is
persecuted. That is why we are here”.
Of course we take them up but it's a huge technical and
financial burden in
our current condition
to provide for additional tens of thousands of people. After Al-Bab
was taken by the Turkish army and the regions south of Minbic by the
Syrian army, further tens of thousands have come. Now at least there
is a little international support.
Recently,
the Minbic Civic Council has restructured and renamed itself
the Minbic
Democratic Civilian Administration Council. Why, and what is
different now?
All:
On March 12, 2017, Minbic Civic Council has not only renamed itself
as
the Minbic
Democratic Civilian Administration Council, but also a number of
restructuring measures in the entire administration have taken place
after months of discussions. In the Civic Council, legislative and
executive had been one structure, now they are
separated. The number of representatives taking political decisions
in the legislative of the Democratic Administration has been raised
from 43 to 134. 71 of them are Arabs, 43 Kurds, 10 Turkmens, 8
Circassians, in
addition to
one Armenian and one
Chechen.
15 persons form the executive of the Democratic Administration. All
in all, 13 committees were founded – defense, women, society
matters, economy, finances, health, culture, education, communal
administration, martyrs, services, diplomacy,
and youth&sport.
Xalit:
The greatest challenge was to win enough women among the non-Kurds
for this function in accordance with the gender quota of 40% as
agreed. This was due to the fact that among them, so far very few
women had been active in the public-political sphere and the question
of women's rights had hardly been posed in a serious manner. For
several weeks we struggled for a sufficient number of women to be
represented in the legislative. Only because 50% of the Kurds in the
legislative of the Minbic Democratic Administration were women, was
it possible to observe the quota.
All:
In the face of the war, the displacements and massacres in Syria, and
the
exploitation
of religion
or ethnicity, it is important that all ethnic groups of Minbic are
sufficiently represented; from the religious point of view all are
Sunni. We also have made efforts to successfully let different
professions be represented. Youth, students, intellectuals and
artists are also among the 134 delegates.
How
can we even understand the developments in Minbic in the Syrian
political perspective? How, according to you, should this new system
be assessed?
All:
These new structures in Minbic were developed on the basis of the
idea of the Democratic Nation. According to it,
the nation state is rejected and instead all individuals and groups
should be enabled to find their place in it. No identity should rule
over the other. In practice this means for
instance
that all languages can
be spoken
and the free expression of the different cultures are equal to each
other. Women's liberation is a central element and pervades all
political and social structures; thus we are gradually introducing
the co-chair-system of one man and one
woman
and a gender quota everywhere. Furthermore, life is supposed to be
organised ecologically and communally: Private economic gain must not
stand over the interests of society and a broad solidarity among each
other is important. This concept has been implemented successfully in
the three cantons Afrîn,
Kobanê and
Cizîrê since
2012, but the difference is that here lives a majority of non-Kurds.
And this is exactly what is special about Minbic.
Square where ISIS executed 545 people. Today children can play here. Picture by Ercan Ayboga.
Bozgeyik:
All
that which we are hearing from the Kurds in recent time sounds so
very new and exciting to us. The greatest thing is that we are
building something
new together and in good cooperation. Even more decisive than theory
is practice, because this is what the broad population is looking at.
Hopefully we will manage to build a model for the whole of Syria in
Minbic. In the face of the enormous suffering this is very important.
We are aware of the historic and responsible task we are carrying
out. That is why we work a lot, discuss and continuously educate
ourselves in academies which we have established.
What
does Abdullah Öcalan represent in this context, as
the one who
provided the ideas behind the concept of Democratic Nation? Which
role does he play in Minbic?
Tarik:
Abdullah Öcalan has voiced essential
thoughts which place the coexistence of cultures at
the centre. The peoples are coming closer at heart. Today Öcalan is
not only a political leader of the Kurds, he has earned himself a
very special role for Circassians and all others in our region. We
can also see this in the fact that women are becoming active in
society.
What
do you think of the role of the Turkish government in the war in
Syria? For weeks now the Turkish army has been attacking villages in
western
Minbic.
All:
We maintain a good relationship with the population of Turkey. Many
of us have lived in Turkey as refugees and a small number
of people from Minbic are still there as refugees. Nonetheless, the
Turkish government has wronged us for years by supporting ISIS. ISIS
is the common enemy of all people and we should focus on them.
The attacks of armed groups supported by the Turkish army against
villages which were liberated from ISIS taking place now are
unacceptable.
We invite the Turkish government to come to Minbic and witness
themselves what
we are establishing here.
All parts of society partake, we have established social peace and
consensus.
There
are repeated reports on the YPG/YPJ respectively QSD allegedly
conducting ethnic cleansing of
non-Kurds, especially Arabs, in Northern Syria. Has something like
this taken place in Minbic?
Maschi:
I can answer this very clearly:
no. Everyone out there on the streets of Minbic will confirm this,
too. If something like that had happened neither me nor the majority
of Arabs would
have
established the new political structures together with the Kurds and
the others. In general, the liberated villages were examined for
mines for several days, then all inhabitants were allowed to return.
This applies to Kurdish villages, too. Whoever alleges something like
this does not know the reality or has something bad in mind. Rather,
the opposite is the case, in spite of decades of oppression the Kurds
have not answered with nationalism and have truly promoted kinship
among
Syria's
peoples. This is especially evident in Minbic. Last month a
demonstration for
Abdullah Öcalan took place, in
which
we and many thousands took part in. Arabs, Kurds, Turkmens and
Circassians
were marching together.