QAMISHLI KURDS CELEBRATE NOWRUZ WITHOUT SARG

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 DAMASCUS 000224

SIPDIS

LONDON FOR TSOU, PARIS FOR WALLER
DEPARTMENT FOR NEA/ELA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/25/2019
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL SCUL SY
SUBJECT: QAMISHLI KURDS CELEBRATE NOWRUZ WITHOUT SARG
REPRISALS PART I OF II.

REF: A. 06 DAMASCUS 01297

B. 07 DAMASCUS 00318

C. 08 DAMASCUS 00203

Classified By: CDA Maura Connelly for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (C) SUMMARY: Qamishli's Kurds celebrated evening and
daytime Nowruz events with only minor SARG harassment, as
observed by PolEconoffs. Police and military presence was
significant, but unlike last year, when three Kurds were
killed and many others detained, there have been no reports
of arrests in the Qamishli area. In Aleppo and Hasaka,
however, police and security services reportedly broke up
groups of reveling Kurds, detaining as many as 100 from
Aleppo alone. Throughout the New Year celebrations,
representatives of the Yeketi, Kurdish Future Movement, and
the Kurdish Democratic Party sought to meet with us publicly
despite constant scrutiny of the security services who
"escorted" us throughout the delegation's stay. END SUMMARY


2. (C) Kurds throughout Syria gathered on the evening of
March 20 and during the day of March 21 to celebrate the
Kurdish New Year Celebration of "Nowruz." PolEconoffs joined
with representatives of the UNDP, Norwegian, Finnish,
Swedish, Canadian, and British embassies and traveled to
Qamishli with the intention of observing a major cultural
event and hoping our public presence might temper any
heavy-handed SARG reaction to Nowruz Eve revelers. According
to Herveen Osse (strictly protect),a leader in the Damascus
branch of the Kurdish Future Movement, the major Kurdish
party leaders were told by one of the participating embassies
that a large diplomatic contingent was coming, though they
had no particular information on which embassies. Speaking
to Poloff before the event, she said, "I know you will not be
able to come."

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SARG'S THREATENING PRELUDE TO NOWRUZ 2009
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3. (C) Since the March 12 Qamishli riots of 2004, the SARG
has viewed Nowruz events as a threat to regime stability and
it has reacted by aggressively confronting crowds and making
large-scale arrests or standing by as the local Arab
population assaulted them (ref A & B). In 2008, Syrian
security forces reportedly attacked a crowd of Kurds after
they had blocked a fire truck's access to a bonfire in the
street. In the ensuing melee, shots were fired into the
crowd and three Kurds were killed (ref C). In the aftermath
of these killings, few Kurds attended the Nowruz Day events
for fear of continued SARG reprisals.


4. (C) In the weeks leading up to the Nowruz, the SARG warned
some Kurdish leaders to avoid Nowruz celebrations, according
to a Yeketi Party statement. The statement recounts how
"Abdul Hamid Darwish, the Secretary of the Kurdish
Progressive Democratic Party in Syria, and Ismail Omar, the
General Secretary of the Kurdish Union Democratic Party in
Syria, told their supporters to stay away from any party,
promoting a culture of fear amongst Kurds to stop them from
participating in the celebrations." In addition to reporting
on the arrest of 30 Kurds in Aleppo who were commemorating
the 2004 riots that resulted in the killing of approximately
25 Kurds, the Yeketi Party alleged Syrian intelligence
services kidnapped two Kurds in Damascus: 27 year-old Fouad
Hassan Hussein, from Durbassia, and Maher Sattam Hussein, a
geography student at Damascus University. Dr. Abdul Hakeem
Bashar, Secretary General of the Kurdish Democratic Party in
Syria (KDP) told us during a March 20 dinner that 140 armed
guards had verbally assaulted and dispersed 200 women
gathered for an International Women's Day event on March 9 in
Qamishli. He also said that "tent rentals" for the following
day's events had been blocked by the government
(traditionally, Nowruz Day is celebrated in the countryside
with each family setting up a tent).

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Nowruz Eve
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5. (C) By 1600 local, March 20, bonfires of piled tires and
trash burned from every "tal" (a hill around which villages
sometimes form) rising above the bright green fields of wheat
and barley surrounding Qamishli. By sunset, candles lined
the central street of Qamishli. Smaller tire-fires flared up
on street corners and in empty lots throughout the city,
drawing crowds of onlookers and, we observed, the attention
of a mixed force of the Syrian Military Intelligence's (SMI)
uniformed police, riot police, and mukhabarat (plain-clothed
security services).


6. (C) SARG force details: We observed one large armored
vehicle equipped with two water cannons operated by riot
police. This traveled in advance of a large armored
transport vehicle carrying between 30 and 40 SMI police armed
with AK-47s and batons. These two vehicles were escorted by
between six and 10 support cars, which were a combination of
regular marked police vehicles and unmarked cars carrying
plain-clothed security agents. This convoy roamed the city,
putting out bonfires and projecting a show of force. There
were also small groups of police pre-positioned throughout
the city and approximately 50 mukhabarat stationed on the
edge of a large Kurdish crowd that formed later that evening
next to Amouda Mosque.


7. (C) By 2000 the number of Kurds in the area of the mosque
had swelled to between 200-300 people. They stood on
opposite sides of the street chanting "long live Kurdistan."
A Kurdistan flag appeared briefly, but was replaced by
multiple Syrian flags. An individual who appeared to be the
ranking SMI officer, followed by a small cadre of uniformed
and plain-clothed security agents, walked down the center of
the street scanning the crowd and then peacefully engaged a
group of celebrants in conversation. We were told by a local
who was in earshot that the SMI officer told the crowd "we
will give you tomorrow (Nowruz) to celebrate. Don't make any
problems tonight." On his initial appearance, the crowd had
booed the officer and his entourage, but when he entered the
crowd and made this announcement, they began to cheer him and
chant "With our soul, with our blood, we will defend you,
Bashar." After appeasing the crowed, the officer approached
the embassy delegation and asked who we were. We gave him
our business cards, explained we were here to observe the
celebration, and that we would travel to various Nowruz sites
the following day. We were welcomed by the officials, but
informed that we should be aware we were "attracting a
crowd." Though we were not asked to leave the area, we
departed soon after SMI, which, in turn, led to the immediate
dissipation of the crowd.


8. (C) During the Nowruz Eve events, embassy representatives
were repeatedly approached by Kurds who thanked us for our
presence and told that our presence had made the evening
celebration "safer." We heard the same message the following
day from Messud Akko (strictly protect) and various Kurdish
party representatives who stated that while attendance at the
two Nowruz events we observed was smaller than in years past,
more people had turned out than expected. The reason for
this, we were told, was because people felt our attendance
would deter any SARG interference.

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ARRESTS IN HASAKA AND ALEPPO
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9. (C) After the Nowruz Eve celebration, the entire
diplomatic delegation joined Dr. Abdul Hakeem Bashar for
dinner in a local restaurant. We learned that police had
broken up crowds of Kurds in Hasaka and Aleppo. He reported
that security forces had arrested five people in Hasaka,
including Suliman Oso, a leader in the Political Committee of
the Yeketi Party and the brother of Mustafa Oso, president of
the Kurdish Human Rights Committee (DAD). He added that
"many arrests" had taken place in Aleppo and reiterated what
others had told us all evening--namely, our presence had
served as a deterrent not only to excessive behavior by
security forces, but also by Kurdish revelers. We later
learned from DAD council member Muhammad Khalil (strictly
protect) 150 people were arrested in Aleppo on Nowruz Eve, 70
of whom would probably be prosecuted.

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10. (C) COMMENT: We assume SARG security was aware of our
visit in advance given the widespread foreknowledge among the
Kurds, though we cannot be entirely sure. It is perhaps
coincidental, though noteworthy, that as far as we know
arrests occurred on Nowruz Eve in nearly every city with
large Kurdish populations except Qamishli. END COMMENT.
CONNELLY