Kurdistan and The Kurds A Divided Homeland and a Nation without ...

Chapter III
Western Kurdistan Linked
to the Syrian State
As to the Western Kurdistan, it has been linked
forcefully to the newly established Syrian State in the
aftermath of the World War I. Its situation is not better
than that of the other parts of Kurdistan. At the beginning
the French had a project to create in Syria a state in
Damascus, a state for the Alawis on the Shore, a state
for the Druz in the South and a Kurdish state in the
North. The French authorities even asked the Prince
Jaladat Baderkhan to carry out the project of the Kurdish
state in the Kurdish areas of Jazeera, Kobani and Afrin.
At the time the Kurdish intellectuals were inside the large
Syrian cities, especially Damascus. That is why Prince
Jaladat asked the Kurdish teachers and lecturers to move
with their work into the Kurdish areas in order to educate
and prepare for establishing the state institutions. Among
those teachers who moved from Damascus to the Kurdish
villages in Jazeera area for example there were: Izat Filo,
Rashid Jalou and Ibrahim Mella, the author’s father.
However, the French authorities changed their plan later
and made one state of Syria. During the French rule the
Kurds enjoyed some social and cultural rights, such as
establishing literature associations and social and cultural
clubs, as well as publishing Kurdish magazines and
newspapers, for example the magazines Hawar and Ronahi
and Kurdistan Club. The great activist Osman Sabri and
Prince Jaladat Baderkhan were among the first who carried
out such activities.
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