Aug 2, 2013

Seventeen political parties and movements in Iraqi Kurdistan have said that whoever joins armed Islamist groups in Syria are “terrorists,” and called on the relevant authorities to assume their responsibility in putting a stop this phenomenon. A specialist on Islamist groups attributed this to the influence of fatwas issued by clerics outside Kurdistan, most notably Gulf countries.

Kurdish TV channels close to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in Turkey broadcast testimonies from Kurdish youth who were captured during clashes with Jabhat al-Nusra. A spokesman for the Kurdistan Regional Government's (KRG) Ministry of Endowments and Religious Affairs previously confirmed to Al-Hayat, “Nearly 40 youth from the province of Sulaimaniyah were enrolled in Syrian Islamist groups to fight against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad. Yet, many of them have started to return after they found out that they are involved in fighting against Syrian Kurds.”

Following a meeting on Wednesday evening, July 31, the statement issued by nearly 17 Kurdish parties and movements in Sulaimaniyah, said, “It is a condemned terrorist activity that a number of youth have gone to Syria to fight with radical groups against their peers there, and whoever incites them to embrace these ideas shall be held accountable.”

The statement called on “the government to assume its responsibility in halting this phenomenon, and added that the media and the Ministry of Endowments and Religious Affairs should assume their role in raising awareness within mosques.”

The KRG Interior Ministry said, "It is hard to prevent the youth from going to Syria," advising them not to be fooled and convinced by "illegal fatwas." Zana Rustai, a specialist on Islamist groups, who told Al-Hayat, “This trend among youth derives from the feeling that a people or party is being oppressed, and the conviction that they are providing assistance. Their intention may be sincere, but that is not enough, because they are being exploited by some groups to implement a malevolent agenda. Because of [their sense of] humiliation, they risk their lives and are [allowing themselves] to be used to fight against their oppressed Kurdish brothers.”