By ADIB ABDULMAJID
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands – On its official Facebook page, the Kurdish Supreme Committee (KSC) posted a number of sample flags and logos as potential symbols to represent the unity of Syrian Kurds and different political factions working together under the umbrella of the committee.
The samples were designed by Kurdish activists. Efforts to combine the Kurdish national flag with the symbol of the Democratic Union Party (PYD) -- a reference to the unity of the Kurdish National Council (KNC) and the PYD – could be seen in the samples. The KSC is a collective jointly administered by representatives from both groups.
The initiative of the KSC to find a flag for Kurdish factions in Syria has been widely criticized by activists on their Facebook page, who have called for preserving the Kurdish national flag and its historical role in all parts of Kurdistan, including the sacrifices Kurdish people have made in the shadow of this flag.
Other Syrian Kurdish activists held a referendum to find out public opinion in Kurdish areas regarding changing the Kurdish national flag, saying it was unknown whether the PYD flag or the Kurdish national flag would be raised after the adoption of a new one.
Mesud Perik, a Kurdish activist and member of the Centre for Civil Society and Democracy in Syria, told Rudaw that most activists would find an initiative for a new KSC symbol acceptable “but to think of finding a new Kurdish flag means abandoning the Kurdish national spirit and misleading the Kurdish people in Syria.”
“The administrators of the page on Facebook are unknown and there is no official statement by the KSC regarding the page. It seems as if some activists want to conceal the national and historical Kurdish flag from Syria’s Kurdistan,” Perik told Rudaw.
Kamiran Haj Abdo, a member of the international affairs bureau at the KNC, issued a statement saying that the KSC agreed at its last meeting in Erbil that a logo needed to be designed that represented the factions of the committee. “But a change of the Kurdish national flag is not mentioned at all in that agreement,” he said.
“Activists should be more accurate when dealing with such an important and sensitive issue, and it is unacceptable to manipulate the sanctities of the Kurdish people,” Abdo said.
Prominent Kurdish activist Waleed Shekho sees an attempt to eliminate the constants of the Kurdish nation in the proposal to change the Kurdish national flag.
“Principally, the Kurds have nothing left except their history, the national flag and the national anthem ‘Ey Reqib.’ Thus, to manipulate one of these constants means to eliminate the Kurdish identity and existence in order to follow the ideas and hidden agendas of a few politicians,” Shekho said.
He added, “Undoubtedly, the Kurdish Supreme Committee has the right to choose a suitable symbol to represent it, but I see that some voices are emerging to take advantage of the committee’s decision and promote changing the Kurdish national flag, and providing alternatives shamelessly.”
“Those who have never defended the Kurdish national flag are willing to change it at once with no regrets,” Shekho concluded.
