The foundation of the Kurdish National Council was influenced by the start of the Syrian revolution, the sense of rivalry among young people among the Kurdish groups, and the potential of their presence on the streets reducing.
Seeing the Arab Spring revolutions starting in Tunisia and the winds of change blowing as a chance to fulfill their demands, these parties—whose leaders and bases had been persecuted by the extremist Ba’athist government and its security branches—saw the start of their revolutions. They greeted them, and the start of the Syrian revolution in March 2011 gave the Kurdish movement in Syria a significant turning point to release decades of political isolation, repression, and security persecution.
They told their members to help the young people of the revolution and take part in rallies. Supported by the Kurdistan Regional Government, the Kurdish National Council in Syria was declared on October 26, 2011 following three months of intensive preparations and negotiations. Along with the Kurdish revolutionary youth movement embodied by coordination committees, civil society organizations, and public figures, the council—which consists mostly of Kurdish parties in Syria—aims to reflect the actual representation of the Kurdish people in regional and international forums and so strengthen the Kurdish position as the core of a unified Kurdish front to join, or at least coordinate with, the Syrian opposition.
Following the initial split in 1965, the fixation with harmonizing the Kurdish viewpoint surfaced and has stayed the main topic of many political and cultural seminars and conferences. All efforts at unity, however, have made things more difficult and resulted in horizontal and vertical splits separating the Kurdish parties even more.
Originally eager to help create the Kurdish National Council, the Democratic Union Party (PYD) later turned away from its involvement in the inaugural meeting by seeking eight seats for every one of its associated institutions. Every one of its party branches would get eight seats, equal to any other party. The other parties dismissed this. Consultations carried on until the day before the conference; all attempts to get the PYD to take part failed. Later on, the PYD established the People’s Council of Western Kurdistan, which broke apart inside the Movement for a Democratic Society (TEV-DEM).
Prior to the March 15, 2011, revolution, Map of Kurdish political parties:
Twelve Kurdish parties, three umbrella political structures, and several other parties outside the above listed frameworks made up Syria’s Kurdish political movement:
First: Considered the principal framework for most of the components of the Kurdish movement, the Kurdish Political Council in Syria comprised eight Kurdish parties. The movement formed a coalition comprising for the first time in 2009 including
1- Abdul Hakim Bashar’s side, the Kurdish Democratic Party in Syria (PDK).
Founded on August 5, 1965, this secular party—led by Muhammad Musa Muhammad—is Kurdish left party in Syria. Considered as a symbol of the Kurdish left in Syria and of all those who follow the Kurdish leftist school in Syria, late Osman Sabri created the first Kurdish political party in Syria in 1975. He broke out into three identically named parties.
Currently headed by Ibrahim Berro, the Kurdish Yekiti Party in Syria is unique in that its rotating secretary-general is a member of the Political Bureau assigned three or four year term. Among Kurdish groups, Yekiti stands out for its democratic legacy. Originally from the same Marxist university, this party leans left.
4: Syria’s Kurdish Azadi Party: Under Khairuddin Murad, this party—which descended from the Yekiti and the Kurdish Left Party in Syria—was similarly seen as a secular, left-leaning party with same intellectual lineage. With two secretaries, Mustafa Juma and Mustafa Oso, it broke into two parties with the same name in 2011. These two parties later united with other parties into one party (the Kurdistan Democratic Party – Syria).
5- The Kurdish Democratic Party in Syria (the Bartı), led by Nasreddin Ibrahim, is considered more moderate, but is also considered a descendant of the Kurdish Left Party. This faction emerged when the Bartı split into two factions in the late 1980s, following the death of its Secretary-General, Kamal Ahmed Agha. This Bartı faction formed an alliance with the Kurdish Left Party and split into two parties bearing the same name.
6- The Syrian Kurdish Democratic Party, led by Jamal Sheikh Baqi: This party is considered one of the moderate parties in the Kurdish movement, distinguished by its objective political approach and ideas, its calm, and its reluctance to be drawn into Kurdish-Kurdish internal conflicts.
7- The Kurdish Democratic Equality Party in Syria: Led by Aziz Dawoud, this party split from the Kurdish Progressive Democratic Party in Syria in the 1990s and allied with the Kurdish Democratic Progressive Party (KDP) of Dr. Abdul Hakim Bashar.
8- The Kurdish National Democratic Party in Syria: Led by Taher Safouk, who split from the Kurdish Democratic Equality Party in Syria shortly after his split with Aziz Dawoud from Abdul Hamid Darwish’s party and allied with the Kurdish Democratic Progressive Party (KDP).
Second: The parties of the General Council of the Kurdish Democratic Alliance in Syria, which consists of only two parties:
1- The Kurdish Democratic Unity Party in Syria: Led by Muhyiddin Sheikh Ali, who broke away from the “Party” when it was unified in the 1980s. It has undergone two splits, and now consists of three parties under the same name.
2- The Kurdish Progressive Democratic Party in Syria: Led by Abdul Hamid Darwish, it has an allied relationship with the Democratic Unity Party.
Third: Parties outside the two frameworks:
1- The Democratic Union Party, currently led by Saleh Muslim, declared the Autonomous Administration of the Kurds of Syria in 2014. It is a large popular party compared to the rest of the Kurdish movement parties in Syria.
2- The Kurdish Future Movement in Syria, which froze its membership in the Kurdish Political Council in Syria, as well as in all Kurdish parties. Its secretary, Mishaal al-Tammo, was martyred after being released by the Syrian regime in 2011, and it split into two factions.