A square in the liberated city of Minbic. Picture by Ercan Ayboga.It
\nis getting more and more complicated here. Almost all parties at war
\nare located
\nin close proximity to this region in Northern Syria. Most notably the
\nTurkish army, acting as an occupant, wants to take Minbic \u2013 an
\nendeavour which, although announced by Turkish president Erdo\u011fan,
\nhas so far failed due to the resistance of the local population, as
\nwell as the
\nUS and Russia.<\/p>\n
<\/i><\/p>\n
\nThe
\ncity of Minbic was liberated on August 12, 2016 by the Syrian
\nDemocratic Forces (SDF, arabic: QSD), thus ending the "Islamic
\nState's" (ISIS) rule of more than two and half years. Shortly
\nbefore the liberation offensive started, the Minbic Military
\nCouncil
\nhad been set up on May 31, 2016 by the QSD under the leadership of
\nthe Kurdish People's and Women's Defense Units (YPG\/YPJ). It
\nexercises military control over
\nthe
\nMinbic region, located about 100 kilometres southwest of Koban\u00ea,
\nwhich became known worldwide for its resistance. In autumn 2016, the
\nMilitary
\nCouncil
\nhanded over the region's administration to the provisional Minbic
\nCivic
\nCouncil.
\nConsisting of Arabs, Kurds, Turkmens and Circassians,
\nthe Civic
\nCouncil
\nhas renamed itself the
\nMinbic
\nDemocratic Civilian Administration Council
\non March 12, 2017 and expanded
\nin size
\nin order to heighten its democratic legitimation.\n<\/p>\n
\nThe
\nsignificance of Minbic derives not only from its geostrategic
\nlocation in the Syrian
\ncontext,
\nbut also from the political system which has been established
\nthere from
\nAugust 2016,
\nnamely with
\nthe
\nMinbic
\nDemocratic Civilian Administration Council which holds a very high
\ndemocratic standard and is supposed to serve as a model for a new
\ndemocratic Syria. This
\nwill be the focus of this
\ninterview which was conducted with the key representatives of the
\nDemocratic Administration's
\nlegislative,
\namong them the co-chairs
\nSozdar Xalit (Kurd) und Faruk Maschi (Arab), as
\nwell as Emel
\nBozgeyik (Turkmen), Muhamed Dolmusch (Turkmen), Muhamed Tarik
\n(Circassian)
\nund Abdo Mustafa (Kurd).\n<\/p>\n
What \nAll: \nBoth \nMaschi: What \nAll: Members of the Democratic Self Government. Picture by Ercan Ayboga. <\/i><\/p>\n \nDolmusch: \nMaschi: \nAll: FSA Right Hotel where ISIS tortured people. Picture by Ercan Ayboga.<\/i><\/p>\n How \nAll: \nDolmusch: \nAll: \nBozgeyik Some Women going to attend a demonstration. Picture by Ercan Ayboga. <\/i><\/p>\n \nAll: \nAll \nThere \nNot According \nThis \nSupport Shortly \nXalit: \nMaschi: One of the partly destroyed neighborhoods in Minbic. Picture by Ercan Ayboga. <\/i><\/p>\n \nWhat \nXalit Can \nAll: Which \nAll: \nA \nTarik: \nAll: Economy The reconstructed bread factory. Picture by Ercan Ayboga.<\/i><\/p>\n \nSome \nBut Recently, \nAll: \nXalit: \nAll: How \nAll: Square where ISIS executed 545 people. Today children can play here. Picture by Ercan Ayboga. <\/i><\/p>\n \nBozgeyik: What \nTarik: What \nAll: There \nMaschi: 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 \u2013 an endeavour which, although announced by…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1113","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1113","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1113"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1113\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1113"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1113"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1113"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nkind of a city was Minbic before the war in Syria?<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nUntil 2011, about eighty percent of Minbic's population of roughly
\n100,000 were Arabs. However, more than ninety years ago the majority
\nof the population had been Circassian.
\nShortly before the ongoing war, Kurds made up close to 15 percent,
\nwhile Circassians and Turkmens together
\naccounted
\nfor only about five percent of the overall population in
\nMinbic.
\nSeveral decades ago a small Armenian community had existed as well,
\nwhich
\nemigrated to Aleppo though.<\/p>\n
\ncommerce and agriculture have always been well
\ndeveloped in Minbic. Economically the city was
\nin quite a good shape. The level of education is quite high as
\ncompared to the surrounding areas.\n<\/p>\n
\nThe region's 63
\nArabic tribes convened regularly for many years and came to terms
\nwith the state, but
\nin
\ngeneral
\ndid
\nnot
\nactively support it. The two biggest tribes sent one deputy
\nrespectively to the Syrian parliament.\n<\/p>\n
\nwas the period between the beginning of the Syrian uprising and war
\nuntil shortly before ISIS' rule like in Minbic?<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nThe city of Minbic and its surroundings positioned themselves quickly
\nagainst the Baath
\nregime
\nfrom spring 2011 onwards. But there were heated discussions on
\nwhether resistance should be peaceful or armed.<\/p>\n
\nThis
\ndiscussion was
\nheld among Arabs as well as Turkmens. While the latter organised
\nthemselves peacefully initially, a lot of them quickly changed their
\nmind when weapons, money and military training was pressed on by
\nTurkey. Thus the Turkmen society was of two opinions.<\/p>\n
\nI,
\ntogether with my tribe positioned myself against the regime, but
\nrejected armed aggression. But many were in favour of them and the
\nArabs were of divided opinions. Hardly anyone was on the side of the
\nregime.<\/p>\n
\nFrom 2011, up to 76 oppositional military brigades formed quickly,
\nall convening under the label of the Free Syrian Army (FSA).
\nPolitically, the Kurds got organised mostly in the Movement for a
\nDemocratic Society (TEV-DEM), an alliance of several Kurdish parties
\nincluding the Democratic Union Party (PYD), which quickly rose to be
\nthe major force of Kurds throughout Syria. On the military level,
\nthey assembled mostly under the Al-Akrad group, which belonged to the
\nmore progressive parts of the FSA and was
\non friendly terms with the YPG\/YPJ. \t<\/p>\n
\nrule in Minbic from July 2012 at first led to more political freedom
\nbut it was a very chaotic period. Most FSA fighters on the one hand
\ncould not cope
\nwith
\nbasic administrative tasks and on the other they began to enrich
\nthemselves. Having
\nplundered
\nstate institutions, they robbed civilians. After a few months the FSA
\nturned more repressive and started to fight among each other. The
\npopulation became dissatisfied. It was quite easy for the Al-Nusra
\nFront,
\nthe Syrian Al-Qaida which was growing in strength,
\nto seize
\npower in spring 2013.<\/p>\n
\nat
\nthe beginning,
\nAl-Nusra introduced sharia law and exerted greater political
\npressure. Many people who were accused of criminal acts got their
\nhand chopped off. Theft, too, was part of Al-Nusra fighters methods.
\nWhile the FSA curtailed TEV-DEM's political work in the villages,
\nAl-Nusra began to oppress TEV-DEM in the city as well. In short,
\nAl-Nusra's short rule was far from social justice and freedom and was
\nheading speedily towards dictatorship and chaos. Thus, ISIS with it's
\nassertion of absolute Islam and a just system encountered no
\ndifficulties in grabbing the power in Minbic.\n<\/p>\n
\ncan we imagine ISIS' rule in Minbic, which lasted about three years,
\nto be like in practise?<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nWhen the regime was ousted in 2012 the population of Minbic rose in
\nnumber at first. But with ISIS, it shrank to less than half of the
\noriginal number. Notably almost all Kurds and Circassians left the
\ncity because they were seen as potential enemies.<\/p>\n
\nWhen ISIS ruled in Minbic, they were not so much after Turkmens, but
\nin particular after Kurds. Because they feared them a lot.<\/p>\n
\nIn the first months, ISIS conducted themselves quite cautiously in
\nthe city. They even offered sweets to children on the streets. But
\nright at
\nthe
\nbeginning
\nthey underlined
\nwhat is "halal" (permitted) and "haram"
\n(prohibited). The population watched ISIS rule passively at first.
\nBut a few months later ISIS showed its true face and started to
\ncontrol political, social, cultural and economic life in a formerly
\nunknown way. Any kind of objection to or infringement of the rules
\nimposed by them were met in the most brutal way. The most extreme
\nform of terror perpetrated by ISIS in Minbic was to lock up people \u2013
\n545 persons in the course of about 3 years \u2013 in cages put up on
\npublic places for days, not allowing relatives to come to
\nthem,
\nand behead them in public days later, with many people being made to
\nattend by force. This was recorded on video in order to spread even
\nmore fear of ISIS.\n<\/p>\n
\nand Xalit: Women and also girls were subjected to special laws. They
\nhad to wear the strictest type of chador in
\npublic and
\nwere only
\nallowed
\nto go out on the street when
\naccompanied
\nby a male relative, having
\nto walk 15 metres behind him. In order to receive a punishment it was
\nenough for
\na
\npart of the woman's face to
\nbe seen outside.
\nIt sometimes happened that men lost sight of their wives or sisters
\nand were not able to find them again. Many women simply stayed at
\nhome all the time because of this regulation. \t<\/p>\n
\nwomen had to continue working in the vegetable fields around the city
\ndue to the difficult economic situation, a job greatly obstructed by
\nthe chador, especially during summer. Certain products such as
\ntomatoes, tinned food or other things especially favoured by women,
\nwere banned. In order to enforce restrictions more efficiently, even
\na women's militia
\nwas formed. Arrested women were tortured \u2013 shortly after liberation
\ntraces of blood were seen in the women's jail \u2013 and in many cases
\nstoned to death in three public places. We are particularly pleased
\nthat a tree has grown in exactly
\none
\nof these places.\n<\/p>\n
\nUnder ISIS the economic situation in Minbic grew even more difficult
\nand life exceptionally expensive. They sold bread and one litre of
\nDiesel for 350 Syrian lira respectively (the price of which was only
\nabout 40-50 lira in YPG-\/YPJ-\/QSD-controlled area at that time)
\n[equivalent to roughly 1,50 and
\n0,20 EUR]. Often, long queues formed at the distribution points,
\nalthough petroleum and crop were available in sufficient quantity in
\nISIS territory. Sugar was very expensive, too, although it
\nwas produced
\nin close-by Maskanah. Horrendous taxes were randomly exacted from
\nshop
\nowners
\nand merchants. ISIS financed their war this
\nway.
\nThe foodstuffs available were rationed, with ISIS
\nfighters withholding the best parts
\nfor themselves, justifying this with their alleged status as
\n"God's warriors". Most people
\nsurvived on money which came from relatives living outside.
\nThe poorest, who asked for financial support, generally were told to
\njoin ISIS as fighters.<\/p>\n
\nschools in Minbic were closed by ISIS, our children could only attend
\nIslamic schools. When ISIS had enlarged their capacity of own schools
\nafter some time they started to force all children into these
\nschools. There they were subjected to ideological brainwashing and
\npressure to join ISIS from a young
\nage.\n<\/p>\n
\nwere so many more crazy bans as for example, eating in parks. Using a
\nmobile phone was prohibited in general. If someone was caught for the
\nfirst time, they
\nhad to pay a high fine. In
\ncase of repetition jail and torture loomed.<\/p>\n
\neverything which ISIS did can be linked to Islam. They
\ninstrumentalised it for their regime of terror.\n<\/p>\n
\nto your account ISIS was not supported by the population. But were
\nthere not many people who actively supported them?
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nwas the case only for a small part of the population, most of those
\nwho remained adjusted
\nthemselves.
\nWe have to keep in mind that more than half of the population fled
\nfrom Minbic when ISIS ruled. But sadly so we have to say: Some
\nfamilies positively
\nsold
\ntheir daughters to ISIS, partly for ideological and partly for
\nfinancial reasons. If you were close to ISIS and acted as an agent
\nyou were for example allowed to work in one of the many small Diesel
\nrefineries. Some became agents, we were scared not only on the street
\nbut also in our
\nstaircase. The majority
\nof the population positioned themselves
\nmore and more explicitly
\nagainst ISIS from 2015. All in all three demonstrations against ISIS'
\nmethods took place in Minbic, once even shops were closed. But all
\nattempts were suppressed in the most brutal ways.
\nMinbic is one of the few cities controlled by ISIS where
\ndemonstrations against their methods took place at all.\n<\/p>\n
\nfor ISIS was bigger among the armed groups than the civilians.
\nUnfortunately, an important part of the former FSA joined ISIS
\nmilitarily from 2014.\n<\/p>\n
\nbefore the liberation operation
\nstarted on May 31, the Minbic
\nCivic
\nand Military
\nCouncil
\nwere
\nproclaimed. How did this
\ncome
\nto be?<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nThe
\nliberation of the Tishrin dam on the Euphrates through the QSD in
\nDecember 2015 slowly raised hopes that ISIS could lose its
\nsovereignty over the Minbic region. ISIS slowly lost its confidence
\nand rightly so. Because in the beginning of 2016, people and groups
\nwho had fled Minbic convened with YPG\/YPJ\/QSD and representatives of
\nthe three Rojava cantons and the newly founded Syrian Democratic
\nCouncil to prepare the liberation of Minbic. The former TEV-DEM
\nactivists from Minbic were the motor of this enterprise. Since we
\nboth had fled from Minbic before, we contributed a lot from the
\nstart. First, the Minbic Military Council was founded in the
\nbeginning of 2016, and then the Minbic Civic
\nCouncil on April 5, 2016. The representation of all parts of society
\nwas so important to us that we reserved the seats for Circassians in
\nthe 43 members strong Civic Council. Because almost all of them had
\nbeen forced to leave Minbic. The Civic Council used all the languages
\nspoken in minbic right from the start, the banners were in four
\nlanguages. The Military Council had women as members from the start,
\nwe made this a point. However, they were hardly present in the media
\nat the time of the liberation operation.\n<\/p>\n
\nIt
\nwas possible to
\nproclaim both
\nso swiftly because
\nof
\nthe terror perpetrated by ISIS which
\nwas of
\nutmost brutality and
\nthe
\nhate against it on the one hand, and the active support of both
\nstructures by the QSD and the Syrian
\nDemocratic Council
\non the other.
\nI myself have had a good relationship with the Kurds in Minbic and
\nclose-by Koban\u00ea for a long time. I have
\nalways valued
\nhaving
\nactual
\ndeeper relations with them as
\nan
\nimportant
\ngoal, only then can we prevent other forces from playing us off
\nagainst each other. I also convinced many people in my
\nAl-Buberne-Clan, which is one of the biggest clans in the Minbic
\nregion, of that. The Minbic Civic Council and the Military Council
\nwhich possesses an autonomous structure within the QSD, and the civil
\ncouncil have collaborated closely right from the start, the task
\nsharing was quite good. This became apparent during the liberation
\noperation
\nwhich lasted about three months. The Military Council grew quickly
\nduring this operation and reached several thousand members when
\nMinbic was liberated.<\/p>\n
\ndid you do as Civic Council, when the Minbic Military Council had
\nstarted the liberation operation?<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nand Maschi: Before
\nand during the liberation operation we made great efforts to get in
\ntouch with people in Minbic and refugees from Minbic in various
\nplaces and win them over for the liberation. The acceptance of the
\nCivic Council grew fast through this, which was of importance for the
\ntime after liberation \u2013 we were confident of the success of the
\noperation. We had formed groups which, starting from June 2016,
\nimmediately visited the liberated villages and informed about our
\ngoals and intentions. The vast majority received us with joy and
\nrelief. Apart from that we, together with volunteers, tended to the
\nmany hundreds wounded in the course of the hard fights in Minbic. But
\nmost of all we led discussions on how the administration of the city
\nand surrounding regions of Minbic should work. Every step during and
\nshortly after the liberation was important to gain the support of the
\nbroad population. In fact we were all in all quite successful, and
\nwere given charge of leading Minbic for the transitional period
\nwithout being questioned. From then on the population turned to us.\n<\/p>\n
\nyou give us examples and impressions of how the population received
\nthe liberation? What was especially important for you?<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nYou can compare the liberation from ISIS by the Minbic Military
\nCouncil and the Syrian Democratic Forces to the passage from hell to
\nparadise! Accordingly, spirits were particularly euphoric during the
\nfirst weeks. ISIS brutality had been so immense that many could
\nrejoice only then when they could meet the Military Council and
\nDemocratic Forces fighters in person and not in combat position in
\nfront of their houses. Then came cries of joy. This great joy could
\nbe seen especially on women's faces. Many danced on the streets in
\nthe first days. It was important for us that no attempt at lynching
\ntook place. Tens of thousands returned to their houses within a few
\nweeks, among them many thousands from Turkey. A lot of people
\napproached us offering their help, or rather wanted to carry out
\ntasks in reconstruction. The population had seen that we bring
\nfreedom and equality and do not want to exclude anyone or take
\nadvantage of differences in favour of a small circle. The population
\nsenses exactly this. Minbic has never lived through so much freedom
\nin its history. The joy is still huge, everyone can see this for
\nthemselves
\nwalking through the streets of Minbic. People's faces are full of
\npositive energy.<\/p>\n
\nwere the first steps you undertook in Minbic? How has life developed
\nin more than half a year? <\/strong><\/p>\n
\nDuring
\nthe liberation process several dozens of buildings were destroyed
\ncompletely, and hundreds of them partly. This is very little compared
\nto many other Syrian cities which were fought over. One of the first
\nsteps was to clear the debris very quickly. Right from the start we
\nmade efforts to establish people's councils with broad participation
\nfrom the population in every city district and every place outside of
\nthe city. In some places we quickly managed to build a democratic
\nstructure with
\nwomen's
\nparticipation.
\nWe are confident that we will manage to do the same everywhere within
\na short period of time.<\/p>\n
\nsecond wave of happiness went through the region when schools
\nreopened one month after liberation. They had been closed for three
\nyears. We had successfully called on all former teachers for that.
\nThe only change we have made to education so far is the abolition of
\nthe subject on state and history which used to be taught on the basis
\nof Baath ideology. Kurds and Turkmens started to teach their children
\nin their mother tongue additionally a few weeks after the opening.\n<\/p>\n
\nAs of now we are not able to offer our children Circassian
\nlanguage, which is also due to the fact that we do not speak our
\nlanguage very often. But with the new school term we will start. This
\nis a huge challenge for us, because Circassian
\nhasn\u2019t
\nbeen
\ntaught neither in
\nSyria nor in Turkey. It is an incredibly wonderful feeling that
\neverybody can go to school in their own language.<\/p>\n
\nWhen the situation in Minbic became more stable in autumn and we as
\nMinbic
\nCivil
\nCouncil
\nhad organised ourselves better, administration was officially
\ntransferred to
\nus by
\nthe Military
\nCouncil.
\nFrom then on, all important decisions regarding Minbic region were
\nmade by our council of 43 members. One of the first decisions was to
\nask the Military
\nCouncil
\nto build the
\nsecurity structure, called Asay\u00ee\u015f.\n<\/p>\n
\nwas freed from the many restrictions imposed on
\nit
\nin the last years. This was important insofar as the merchants of
\nMinbic were thus able to bring necessary goods from other regions.
\nBut this does not suffice by far and the traded goods are expensive
\nin parts. But staple foods and other elementary goods and aids for
\nthe needy are coming from the cantons Koban\u00ea and Ciz\u00eer\u00ea. Now bread
\n\u2013 the large bread factory was restored immediately \u2013 and Diesel
\nin Minbic cost the same as in Koban\u00ea and Ciz\u00eer\u00ea, and water supply
\nis working again. Electricity is delivered from Tishrin barrage
\nalmost all day long free
\nof cost.
\nMobile company Syriatel was allowed to repair the
\ntelecommunication masts, and so people could talk to their relatives
\nin other parts of the country again.<\/p>\n
\naccused of spying for ISIS were given an open and democratic trial.
\nBut only after a people's court, transparent to the Civic Council and
\nthe public, had been established.<\/p>\n
\nthe liberation of Minbic has also led to people from regions where
\nISIS and other antidemocratic forces or regimes are in control coming
\nto us as refugees. They say: \u201cWe
\nhave heard that there is freedom here, life is better and no one is
\npersecuted. That is why we are here\u201d.
\nOf course we take them up but it's a huge technical and
\nfinancial burden in
\nour current condition
\nto provide for additional tens of thousands of people. After Al-Bab
\nwas taken by the Turkish army and the regions south of Minbic by the
\nSyrian army, further tens of thousands have come. Now at least there
\nis a little international support.\n<\/p>\n
\nthe Minbic Civic Council has restructured and renamed itself
\nthe Minbic
\nDemocratic Civilian Administration Council. Why, and what is
\ndifferent now? <\/strong><\/p>\n
\nOn March 12, 2017, Minbic Civic Council has not only renamed itself
\nas
\nthe Minbic
\nDemocratic Civilian Administration Council, but also a number of
\nrestructuring measures in the entire administration have taken place
\nafter months of discussions. In the Civic Council, legislative and
\nexecutive had been one structure, now they are
\nseparated. The number of representatives taking political decisions
\nin the legislative of the Democratic Administration has been raised
\nfrom 43 to 134. 71 of them are Arabs, 43 Kurds, 10 Turkmens, 8
\nCircassians, in
\naddition to
\none Armenian and one
\nChechen.
\n15 persons form the executive of the Democratic Administration. All
\nin all, 13 committees were founded \u2013 defense, women, society
\nmatters, economy, finances, health, culture, education, communal
\nadministration, martyrs, services, diplomacy,
\nand youth&sport.\n<\/p>\n
\nThe greatest challenge was to win enough women among the non-Kurds
\nfor this function in accordance with the gender quota of 40% as
\nagreed. This was due to the fact that among them, so far very few
\nwomen had been active in the public-political sphere and the question
\nof women's rights had hardly been posed in a serious manner. For
\nseveral weeks we struggled for a sufficient number of women to be
\nrepresented in the legislative. Only because 50% of the Kurds in the
\nlegislative of the Minbic Democratic Administration were women, was
\nit possible to observe the quota.<\/p>\n
\nIn the face of the war, the displacements and massacres in Syria, and
\nthe
\nexploitation
\nof religion
\nor ethnicity, it is important that all ethnic groups of Minbic are
\nsufficiently represented; from the religious point of view all are
\nSunni. We also have made efforts to successfully let different
\nprofessions be represented. Youth, students, intellectuals and
\nartists are also among the 134 delegates.<\/p>\n
\ncan we even understand the developments in Minbic in the Syrian
\npolitical perspective? How, according to you, should this new system
\nbe assessed?<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nThese new structures in Minbic were developed on the basis of the
\nidea of the Democratic Nation. According to it,
\nthe nation state is rejected and instead all individuals and groups
\nshould be enabled to find their place in it. No identity should rule
\nover the other. In practice this means for
\ninstance
\nthat all languages can
\nbe spoken
\nand the free expression of the different cultures are equal to each
\nother. Women's liberation is a central element and pervades all
\npolitical and social structures; thus we are gradually introducing
\nthe co-chair-system of one man and one
\nwoman
\nand a gender quota everywhere. Furthermore, life is supposed to be
\norganised ecologically and communally: Private economic gain must not
\nstand over the interests of society and a broad solidarity among each
\nother is important. This concept has been implemented successfully in
\nthe three cantons Afr\u00een,
\nKoban\u00ea and
\nCiz\u00eer\u00ea since
\n2012, but the difference is that here lives a majority of non-Kurds.
\nAnd this is exactly what is special about Minbic.<\/p>\n
\nAll
\nthat which we are hearing from the Kurds in recent time sounds so
\nvery new and exciting to us. The greatest thing is that we are
\nbuilding something
\nnew together and in good cooperation. Even more decisive than theory
\nis practice, because this is what the broad population is looking at.
\nHopefully we will manage to build a model for the whole of Syria in
\nMinbic. In the face of the enormous suffering this is very important.
\nWe are aware of the historic and responsible task we are carrying
\nout. That is why we work a lot, discuss and continuously educate
\nourselves in academies which we have established.\n<\/p>\n
\ndoes Abdullah \u00d6calan represent in this context, as
\nthe one who
\nprovided the ideas behind the concept of Democratic Nation? Which
\nrole does he play in Minbic?<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nAbdullah \u00d6calan has voiced essential
\nthoughts which place the coexistence of cultures at
\nthe centre. The peoples are coming closer at heart. Today \u00d6calan is
\nnot only a political leader of the Kurds, he has earned himself a
\nvery special role for Circassians and all others in our region. We
\ncan also see this in the fact that women are becoming active in
\nsociety.<\/p>\n
\ndo you think of the role of the Turkish government in the war in
\nSyria? For weeks now the Turkish army has been attacking villages in
\nwestern
\nMinbic.<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nWe maintain a good relationship with the population of Turkey. Many
\nof us have lived in Turkey as refugees and a small number
\nof people from Minbic are still there as refugees. Nonetheless, the
\nTurkish government has wronged us for years by supporting ISIS. ISIS
\nis the common enemy of all people and we should focus on them.
\nThe attacks of armed groups supported by the Turkish army against
\nvillages which were liberated from ISIS taking place now are
\nunacceptable.
\nWe invite the Turkish government to come to Minbic and witness
\nthemselves what
\nwe are establishing here.
\nAll parts of society partake, we have established social peace and
\nconsensus.<\/p>\n
\nare repeated reports on the YPG\/YPJ respectively QSD allegedly
\nconducting ethnic cleansing of
\nnon-Kurds, especially Arabs, in Northern Syria. Has something like
\nthis taken place in Minbic?<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nI can answer this very clearly:
\nno. Everyone out there on the streets of Minbic will confirm this,
\ntoo. If something like that had happened neither me nor the majority
\nof Arabs would
\nhave
\nestablished the new political structures together with the Kurds and
\nthe others. In general, the liberated villages were examined for
\nmines for several days, then all inhabitants were allowed to return.
\nThis applies to Kurdish villages, too. Whoever alleges something like
\nthis does not know the reality or has something bad in mind. Rather,
\nthe opposite is the case, in spite of decades of oppression the Kurds
\nhave not answered with nationalism and have truly promoted kinship
\namong
\nSyria's
\npeoples. This is especially evident in Minbic. Last month a
\ndemonstration for
\nAbdullah \u00d6calan took place, in
\nwhich
\nwe and many thousands took part in. Arabs, Kurds, Turkmens and
\nCircassians
\nwere marching together.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"