Syrian Kurds reject government version of Khaznawi's death
Damasco (AsiaNews) Hassan Saleh, secretary of the Kurdish party Yakiti (prohibited in Syria), is clamouring for the setting up of an independent commission to investigate the death of the ulema Muhammed Maachuk Khaznawi. Khaznawi vanished from Damascus on 10 May and was found dead on 1 June in the east of the country.
Hassan Saleh told AsiaNews that "information published by the Syrian government is dubious and hiding political motivations". "To know the truth", he is calling for the launching of a commission formed by Kurdish attorneys. And to step up pressure on the government, Saleh announced that demonstrations will be held in Damsacus, Aleppo and in the Kurd-dominated region in the north-east of the country.
Yakiti's decision comes only a few hours after an official declaration from the government of Damascus, which says it has in hand the names of "five criminals" who assassinated Sheik Khaznawi. Yakiti insists Khaznawi was assassinated while he was "in the hands of the Syrian authorities". Damascus however says the Sheik was murdered by common criminals.
Thirty-year-old Muhammad Murad Khaznawi, one of the deceased's 16 sons, told AsiaNews: "We know the assassins of our father and we will publish a statement about this fact. If we were in Switzerland, I would have been able to tell you myself about it, but we are in Syria."
The Syrian state is notorious for its intolerance of any criticism or opposition to the Baath party, which is propped up by the Alaouite minority (a heretical Islamic group) and by officials loyal to the Assad family.
Sheik Khaznawi, who was 46 when he was killed last month, was vice-president of the Centre for Islamic Studies in Damascus. He was well known and liked even outside the Kurdish community. Only a few weeks before he was kidnapped, Khaznawi, an ardent defender of his ethnos, had criticised the Syrian leadership in a very cutting manner for the neglect facing the country.
A few months earlier, he had been in Europe, meeting overseas Kurdish groups and even leaders of the Muslim Brothers, prohibited in Syria.
For some time now, the army of Damascus has had its eye on the Kurdish community of Syria because of the latter's irredentism. Syria also views with apprehension the reinforcing on its border of an autonomous Kurdish zone in Iraq. Syrian Kurds make up 10% of the population (17 million).
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27/12/2018 11:05
27/04/2005
