At the end of 2013, the Kurds of Syria made a few unprecedented moves: They declared the establishment of a Kurdish autonomous region in Syria, published a draft of a Kurdish constitution, called for elections to a Kurdish parliament in four months and decided to join the upcoming Geneva conference on Syria as a unified delegation separate from both the government and the opposition. These bold moves indicate that while the Syrian regime and the myriad of opposition groups are busy destroying the Syrian state and each other, the Kurds of Syria are working assiduously to develop their own nation-building and state-building project. The main political group which appears to be leading the project is the PYD headed by Salih Muslim and co-chairwoman Asia Abdullah. In fact, the main power behind it is the PKK, based in Turkey and in Iraqi Kurdistan.
In many ways, the Kurds of Syria are walking in the footsteps of their brethren in Iraqi Kurdistan who had initiated their project in 1991 when they established the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). Like the KRG, the Kurdish entity in Syria has all the trappings of a semi independent region. It has a flag, army, police, and administration of its own. It, too, has declared autonomy against all odds. Not only did the Syrian opposition with which the Kurds were allied for some time come out strongly against it, but many other states in the region — particularly Turkey, Iran and Iraq — followed suit because of the fear of spillover effects on their own Kurdish population. (The Kurds of Iran, for example, started demanding a federal system in Iran). However, in not heeding threats from either the Syrian opposition or those states, the Kurds proved their assertiveness in drafting a constitution which aims at turning these achievements into a fait accompli.
