On a day that was sunny yet cold at the same time, crowds from the Kurdish community took to the streets of the Lebanese capital, Beirut, waving flags of the Kurdistan Region, holding banners and photographs of slain Kurdish civilians, and chanting slogans in support of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
On Tuesday, the demonstrators headed toward the headquarters of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) in central Beirut, where they held a solidarity vigil with the Kurds of Syria.
The move came after the SDF’s General Command declared a state of general mobilization on Monday, calling on “young men and women in Rojava and northern, southern, and eastern Kurdistan, as well as Kurdish communities in Europe, to unite and join the resistance,” a day after clashes broke out between the SDF and government forces in northern Syria.
The event outside ESCWA concluded with a statement issued by the Kurdish community in Lebanon, calling for an immediate halt to military operations, the dispatch of an international fact-finding committee, constitutional and legal guarantee of Kurdish rights, and the provision of safe return for the displaced. A delegation from the Newroz Association and a representative of the Autonomous Administration also handed a letter to the United Nations’ deputy representative in Lebanon, Shadia Abdullah, to convey the demands of the Kurdish people to international forums.
Emotional Solidarity
What Beirut witnessed “reflects a deep sense of solidarity among Kurds everywhere,” says Abdul Salam Ahmad, the representative of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria in Lebanon. “This vigil is not merely a protest, but an emotional and humanitarian stance alongside our people who are being subjected to murderous attacks and systematic extermination.”
In remarks to Alhurra, Ahmad stresses that any general call to defend the Kurds in Syria “by definition includes the Kurdish community in Lebanon,” explaining that “many Kurds in Lebanon still have families living in areas of northern and eastern Syria, as most of them are displaced persons who were forced to leave their homes in Afrin, Hasakah, Qamishli, and Kobani, either as a result of the Turkish occupation or while fleeing jihadist groups.” He calls on young people “to join in and defend their families and their land.”
Away from the protest scene, Rustum, a Syrian Kurd from Qamishli who sought refuge in Lebanon during the years of the Syrian war, expresses full solidarity with the Syrian Democratic Forces, stressing that his position stems from a sense of kinship and duty.
“For us, the SDF is not just a military force, but a guarantee of existence and a protective umbrella against extremist factions,” he says. “Abandoning it today would mean the extermination of the Kurds and their displacement once again. For me, this is an existential issue.”
Rustum adds, in comments to Alhurra, that “the Kurds have long been deprived of their rights, and they have the right to have their own entity and state like other peoples of the world.” He concludes: “Today I am in Lebanon, but my heart is there, and I am ready to return to Syria to stand by my family if the need arises.”
A Historical Reading
Beirut ‘s locality administrator (Mukhtar) Jamal Omirat opens a window onto the history of the Kurdish community in Lebanon, explaining that what is known in Lebanon as “the Kurds” does not reflect the true origins of the majority of this group. “The overwhelming majority originally trace their roots to the Arabs of Mardin (southeastern Turkey) and speak Arabic, while the proportion of actual Kurds does not exceed 10 percent,” he says.
According to Omirat, the Arabs of Mardin identified themselves as Kurds when they arrived in Lebanon during the French Mandate period to facilitate the asylum process, benefiting, as he tells Alhurra, “from French sympathy for the Kurds and their opposition to the Turks.” This migration was initially seasonal and economically motivated, before gradually turning into permanent settlement, aided by the Arab language and the ease of integration in Lebanon. Some obtained Lebanese citizenship under the 1956 naturalization decree, while the rest received it under the 1994 decree.
At first, those arriving from the Turkish countryside worked “as street vendors and laborers in vegetable markets, before gradually moving into wholesale trade,” Omirat says, noting their strong presence today in major markets in Beirut, especially the vegetable market near the Sports City.
Between Integration and Identity
There are no precise figures on the number of Kurds in Lebanon, but Ahmad estimates that between 30,000 and 40,000 people arrived in recent years, “and they do not hold Lebanese citizenship.” At the same time, he emphasizes that the Kurdish presence in Lebanon is not recent but “historically old, dating back to distant eras, from the Sasanian period through the Ayyubid and Ottoman eras.” He adds that a large segment later emigrated during the Lebanese civil war to Europe, particularly Sweden and Germany.
New generations born and raised in Lebanon have been influenced, according to Ahmad, “by its social environment, with intermarriage and integration into Lebanese society.”
This integration has led some to forget their mother tongue, though a small number still speak Kurdish during family gatherings, each according to their dialect. Ahmad says that “most of the newer Kurds speak their language and maintain their connection to their roots.”
The Arabs of Mardin have a presence in public life in Lebanon: “Most of them are politically affiliated with the Future Movement and religiously belong to the Association of Islamic Charitable Projects (Ahbash). There are also five locality administrators from their community in Beirut, and one of their members, Adnan Omirat, previously reached the Beirut Municipal Council,” according to Omirat.
Despite this, Kurds in Lebanon are not recognized as an independent constitutional component, but are classified within the Sunni sect.
On the organizational level, 1975 saw the establishment of the Lebanese Kurdish Rizgari Party, in addition to the Lebanese Kurdish Charitable Association founded in 1963, as well as the “Supreme Lebanese Kurdish Council of Notables” and the “Newroz Cultural and Social Association,” in an effort to preserve identity and defend the community’s social and political causes in the country.
Who Took to the Streets?
The demonstration in Beirut was not merely a passing message. The flags swaying in the wind and the participation of men and women with their children painted a vivid picture of solidarity with the Kurds of Syria.
However, this scene does not reflect the positions of all groups categorized under the label of “Kurds” in Lebanon. While participants in the protest expressed enthusiasm, Mahmoud, a young man of Arab Mardin origin, offers a different perspective, asserting that what is happening in Syria “does not concern him in the slightest.”
Mahmoud tells Alhurra that being classified as Kurdish does not reflect the reality of his family’s origins, which trace back to southeastern Turkey. At the same time, he emphasizes that he considers himself Lebanese, having been born and raised in the country. Accordingly, he does not see himself as concerned with any conflict or political or military project outside Lebanon, whether linked to the SDF or otherwise.
In this context, Omirat explains that those participating in the demonstrations “do not represent the Arabs of Mardin; rather, most of them are Syrian Kurds who came to Lebanon during the Syrian war and are concentrated in areas such as Nabaa and Bourj Hammoud.”
He stresses that “the Arabs of Mardin in Lebanon do not engage politically with what is happening in Syria and do not respond to calls for mobilization,” affirming that “their homeland is Lebanon, while the relationship with Turkey remains one of roots and pride in origin.”
Background of the Conflict and the Pending Agreement
During the Syrian war, the SDF imposed control over vast areas of northern and northeastern Syria, with U.S. support, as part of its fight against the Islamic State group. With the fall of former President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, Washington entered into mediation between the SDF and the Syrian government to reorganize the security and political landscape in those sensitive areas.
Earlier this month, Kurdish forces withdrew from neighborhoods in the city of Aleppo following fighting with government forces, but they still control large areas of Hasakah province in the northeast, including the predominantly Kurdish city of Qamishli, as well as highly sensitive sites, most notably prisons holding thousands of Islamic State detainees.
In this context, the Syrian presidency announced on Tuesday that a joint understanding had been reached between the Syrian government and the SDF on a number of issues related to the future of Hasakah province.
In a statement, it said that the SDF had been granted a four-day period for consultations in order to develop a detailed plan for the mechanism of integrating these areas.
Ahmad considers the Kurdish issue “complex and intertwined,” linked to four countries—Syria, Turkey, Iraq, and Iran—and says that “what is happening today in Syria is a form of genocide against Kurdish identity, culturally and physically.”
He warns that “handing over weapons in the manner being demanded will lead to massacres against our people.” He adds: “We are heading into a difficult phase and a dark tunnel, as a result of handing over the administration of Syria to jihadist takfiri groups that do not recognize borders or the nation-state and target all the peoples of the region, starting with neighboring countries.”
This article is a translation of the original Arabic.
