Dr. Ata Kamel Ata, secretary-general of the Syrian opposition's Liberal Democrats Movement, recently said that the Kurds were "a bunch of barbaric and backward human groups," who were "hereditarily stupid." Speaking on Orient Radio on March 19, two days after the declaration of an autonomous Kurdish state in Kurdish-controlled areas in northern Syria, he said that "northern Syria in its entirety should be purged of the invading Kurds." Orient Radio later apologized for these statements and removed the show from its website.

Following are excerpts

Ata Kamel Ata over the radio: The (Kurdish) sect that came into northern Syria consists of barbaric human groups that emerged from the mountains of Iran, from the Qandil Mountains, and from Eastern Turkey. They came here in keeping with a plan by the enemies of our country and nation, like global Zionism and the forces that took advantage of the Kurds in their natural historical capacity as mercenaries. The Kurds have been mercenaries throughout history.

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I'd like to state an absolute truth: The Kurd is hereditarily stupid. He says only what is written down for him, or what he is taught by rote like a parrot.

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I am upset with Arab intellectuals and leaders who say that the Kurds are our brothers. The Syrian Kurd is my brother if he lives in Damascus, respects the Syrian flag and Syria's Arab identity and history. That kind of Kurd is indeed my brother. My adopted brother. But to adulate the pan-Kurdish backward and fossilized rhetoric, which came here in the form of occupation - that is something I denounce. The Kurds are not my brothers. The Kurds are invading occupiers, whom I must drive out of my country. I must decontaminate my land and bolster my country's unity. The Kurds must be banished from Syria. Northern Syria in its entirety should be purged of the invading Kurds, who have proven to be ingracious guests, and who do not have the right to demand anything.

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The Kurdish catalogue is a Zionist catalogue par excellence. Look what has happened in Palestine since 1921 and to this day. The Kurds follow the Jewish catalogue, but they do so with unparalleled stupidity and dumbness. The history of Syria, which was written about in the Torah, the New Testament, and the Quran, and in all the world's cultures, cannot be falsified by a bunch of barbaric and backward human groups, which know no heritage or civilization.

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Mr. Charles Tripp, the most renowned British historian ever, says: The Kurds are Persians. Full stop. The Kurdish nationality is fabricated. (The word) "Kurds" means "slaves of the Persians." They have lived in the Iranian desert since the days of yore. They consist of groups - this is what the British historian says... They are barbaric and backward human groups, which cannot coexist among themselves. They do not share a language. They have all kinds of Farsi dialects, making it difficult for them to understand one another. In a lecture he gave at Oxford University there was a heated debate, and one historian asked him: So how do the Kurds communicate? Tripp smiled and said: They use sign language.

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