Syria's Kurds: a Model for Weighing a Minority

Following clashes between governmental forces, Salafis and Syria's Kurds and the intensification and extension of internal crisis in Syria (2011-1013), the role and approach of Syria's Kurds in the political equations of this country have been attracted much attention. At the present time, Syria's Kurds have gained the political and administrative control of most Kurdish regions in Syria and seek their freedom and civil rights in the framework of two movements, "the Kurdish National Council" and " the People's Council of Western Kurdish". However, examining the objectivity of Kurd's demands given their capacities and difficulties is of great importance. The fact is that during the years followed 2003 which witnessed the consolidation of Iraqi Kurd's status in the political structure of Iraq; Syria's Kurds put forward their demands much more vehemently. However, there are a range of internal, regional and international problems on the way of the realization of their demands regarding having autonomy to manage their local affairs or creating a federal region. These regional complexities and international imperatives have now turned the issue of Kurds into a complicated problem. This article tries to study the possible solutions for this problem and focusses on the question that given the combination of potentials and hardware and software difficulties, what is the best option for Syria's Kurds: integration, autonomy or independence? Naturally, processing and testing of each scenario require an appropriate model and various new dates. For this reason, we use " the model of weighing ethnic minorities" to test the hypothesis that "hardware and software capacity of Syria's Kurds along with the security considerations of powers involved in Syria's affairs have created an obstacle against their independence and have undermined the possibility of their autonomy leaving no choice for them but to integrate into the Syrian Arab Republic.