Main impacts on the Syria’s crisis

Размещено на http://www.allbest.ru/

Main impacts on the Syria's crisis

Nataliya Dzhygalyuk, 4th year student of Specialty «International relations», Faculty of International Relations, Lesya Ukrainka Eastern European National University

Abstract

In the article is mentioned two unsolved territorial disputes: the Shebaa Farms and Hatay region. Another issue, that makes Syria more diverse is Kurdish question. Colonial powers divided Middle East by not existing boarders. It has led Egypt and Syria to unite and establish the United Arab Republic. One more important question is coup d'йtat, which was led by representatives of the military elite Salah Jadid, Hafez al-Assad, Salim Hatum, Mustafa Tlas. The author mentioned that the civil war in Syria is mistakenly concidered to be a religious conflict. The origins of the Syrian vulnerability derive not from the sectarian divisions. In fact the deterioration of situation in Syria hugely depended on social and economic factors.

Another important issue discussed in the article is that Bashar's rulling led to the so-called Damascus Spring, which represented the most important civil society mobilization preceding the 2011 uprising.

Key words: Syria's crisis, Syria, al-Assad regime, Kurdish question, Middle East.

Анотація

Із початку 2011 р. сирійська криза привернула велику увагу всієї світової спільноти. Хоча Арабська весна й була найочевиднішим спусковим механізмом, фактично причини сирійської кризи накопичувалися протягом багатьох десятиліть. Наголошено, що історико- політичний аспект сирійської кризи є яскравим прикладом того, як невирішені питання минулого можуть дестабілізувати ситуацію в сьогоденні і як авторитарна форма управління може ускладнити життя в демократичному світі.

Описано історичні передумови, які вплинули на загострення кризи, географічне положення та демографічний склад, що робить Сирію зручною базою для опозиційних сил; характеризуються політичні контакти між Францією, Великою Британією та Росією з огляду на ситуацію в державі. Особливу увагу зосереджено на передумовах, які призвели до кризи в Сирії, уключаючи як внутрішні, так і зовнішні чинники.

У статті згадано дві невирішені територіальні суперечки - Ферми Шебаа та Хатайський регіон. Ще один аспект, що ускраднює залагодження кризи, - це курдське питання. Наступне важливе питання - державний переворот, який очолювали представники військової еліти Салах Джадід, Хафез аль-Асад, Салім Хатум, Мустафа Тлас.

Зазначено, що громадянська війна в Сирії помилково вважається релігійним конфліктом, оскільки її витоки випливають не лише з поділу суспільства, а насправді значно впливають на погіршення ситуації сучасні соціальні та економічні фактори.

Інша важлива проблема, про яку йдеться в статті, полягає в тому, що президенство Башара призвело до Дамаської весни, яка стала найважливішим поштовхом до мобілізації суспільства, що передувала повстанню 2011 р.

Ключові слова: Сирійська криза, Сирія, режим Аль-Асада, курдське питання, Близький Схід.

Syrian Crisis, referring to the Syrian Civil war, has ramified roots deep in the history. Vulnerable events demand in-depth analysis of not only relatively recent events, but also insight into the history of the 20th century. Since Syria is considered to be the state with very diverse culture, minorities and economically important actor of the international relations.

The impact of the Syrian crisis on the formation of the existing territorial and socio-economical situation and tendentions in region were subject to the researches of following scolars: Paul Salem, Gerald M. Feierstein, Kate Seelye, Kate Seelye.

A.O. Filonik researched the main features of reforms and policy of Syria in the 21th century. While Ya.S. Nikulina and E.N Sejfiyeva defined the main features, reasons and prospectives of the conflict in Syria. Besides, among domestic researchers Y. Burakov contributed to the scientific acquisition in this field researching the historical aspects of contemporary Civil war in Syria.

During the World War I, France, Great Britain and Russia had held negotiations on the future of Ottoman Empire since it owned a vast territory in the Middle East. The negotiations resulted in the secret Sykes-Picot Agreement (or Asia Minor Agreement) in 1916. According to this agreement the territory of Ottoman Empire was divided into the spheres of influence of signatories. Important to mention, that division occurred without consideration of ethnical composition of areas but basing on the interests of the Allies. They had agreed to give Russia Constantinople and close areas to provide access to the Mediterranean Sea. The Great Britain sought to save the access to India through the Suez Canal and the Persian Gulf. France had a strategic interest in Syria, Aleppo due to the vast amount of investment brought in this region [9].

Since 1920 till 1946 Syria was under the mandate of France as the Ottoman Empire collapsed during the World War I. France ruled administration, modernized infrastructure, carried out reforms in agriculture. In another words, France had been preparing Syria for self-government. But despite of positive impact, France left heritage, that bothers Syria till now - The Shebaa Farms and the Hatay region. Both of them are unsolved territorial disputes.

The Shebaa Farms is about 22 km² on the Lebanese-Syrian border and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. France has a mandate on Lebanon, but nevertheless the Syrian-Lebanese boundary was not officially determined - neither allocated, delimitated, or demarcated. France defined border between the two states on different maps, but without official or professional surveyors. French maps located the Shebaa farms within Syrian territory. However, the residents of the area continued to consider themselves part of Lebanon. This issue was noticed by the French High Commision, but no measures were taken to make the requisite ammendments by French, Syrian or Lebanese side. The border matter of the Shebaa farms continued after Lebanon and Syria became independent in the mid 1940 s.

Syria had not fully recognized Lebanon's independence, that is why it avoided discussions of border with Lebanon as the prime attribute of independence and sovereignty. But in 1974, having signied the Syrian-Israeli Disengagement Agreement and the deployment of UN forces in the Golan Heights, Syria accepted Shebaa farms to be the part of the occupied Golan Heights.

When UN forces deployed in South Lebanon in 1978, Lebanese side did not consider Shebaa farms as its sphere of sovereignty. But on May 4, 2000, it made an official claim for it. Syria supported Lebanon's position motivating it by not willing this territory to come to Israel. On May 21, 2000, Hizbullah launched its first mortal attack in the area, and the Israeli-Lebanese Shebaa farms border dispute was reborn [12]. Hizbulla is Lebanese military group, that supports al-Assad's regime fighting with relellians. Moreover Hizbulla was provided with weapon by Al-Assad.

Golan Heights is another territorial dispute of Syria. It is an officially Syrian territory in the South-West, but sized by the Israel in 1967 during the Six-day War. The annexation was not recognized by the world community. This area, being strategically vital for both sides, remains unresolved issue [3].

The Hatay region was a territory of Syria according to the French mandate. But Turkey actively pushed the idea of reunification in 1930s, because this region was inhabited by a large Turkish-speaking community. French side gave it to Turkey, because they signed the agreement to cooperate during the World War II. But this agreement violated the Treaty of Lausanne and was justified by France so as it was necessary to avoid a Turkish attack on Syria.

After reaching independence, Syrian side refused to recognize the loss of Hatay, defining it as its territory on the maps, and blurring the boarder by creating the free- trade area. In order to avoid complication of bilateral relations between Syria and Turkey the Hatay issue was almost silent for decades, but Syrian crisis raised it again. The problem is that its geographical location made it a convenient base for opposition forces and a hub for smuggling weapons and rebel soldiers into Syria. Its demographic composition, mirroring Syria's ethnic and religious divisions, produced fears of serious spillover effects on the Turkish side of the border [10].

Another issue, that makes Syria more diverse is Kurdish people. They inhabit northeast and northwest along the Turkish border. Kurds are the largest minority in Syria amount to 2,5 million people. During the French mandate Kurds fate was to be determined by the Treaty of Sиvres (1920, 10 August) on partitioning of the Ottoman Empire after the World War I. According to this treaty Kurds were to be given their own territory, but due to hostile reaction of Turks it was failed and on 24 July 1923 it was reconsidered in the Treaty of Lausanne. But it did not mentioned the Kurdish question.

Following years under of governance of Syria, Kurds were put under repressions. Kurds were not allowed to speak Kurdish, and to have business since they don't have Arab names. Moreover, during the 1958-1976 the peak of Arab nationalism a lot of Kurds were arrested and had their living area settled by Arabs under the pressure of government. Because they were accused of cooperation with the Syrian Communist Party. But lately, in 1900s Syria supported the Kurdish movement in Turkey and Iraq. But anyway domestic repression of Kurds continued.

Since the 2004 clashes between Arab and Kurdish football fans led Syrian security forces to open the fire on crowds, Kurdish anti-government disturbances spread to other cities, and security forces killed 38 people, injured hundreds and detained over 1,000 more. Although the government released most of the Kurds detained in March over the following months, in June it banned political activities by Kurdish parties.

The fact, that Kurds were stateless since 1960s caused a lot of violence between Kurds and Syrian state officials in 2007 (October 2006 rally in Damascus in support of 300,000 stateless Kurds).

In April 2011, when uprising already began, the Assad government issued Decree № 49 to grante citizenship to Kurds in Al-Hassakeh governorate who were previously registered as foreigners. But due to the loophope approximately 150,000 Kurds did not become the subject to this decree. Taking into account, that kurds had to pass the interview with security institutions with the prospect of the further conscription, a lot of them preferred to remain stateless.

At the beginning of the Civil war in Syria Kurdish regions were characterized by lack of government institutions. This situation allowed Kurds to revive the Kurdish language learning - it was forbidden before the March 2011 uprising.

Also in July 2013, a campaign to gain Kurdish dominated regions was launched. The Kurdish Democratic Union Party announced the intentions towards self-ruled territories. In January 2014, Syrian Kurds established an Interim Transitional Administration in the cantons of Jazira, Kobane and Afrin. The autonomy of Syria's Kurds stumbled on the hostility of the Turkish state - cross-border raids. At the same time, Kurds the violent confrontation with ISIS was on the another front.

Kurds have established the autonomous administration - Rojava in Kurdish. Lately, in 2016 Rojave declared to be a federal region and to be renamed into the Democratic Federal System of Northern Syria. Although respect for the rights of linguistic and religious minorities and uses three official languages were introduced, it was not recognized by the Syrian government and even by the opposition Syrian National Coalition [15].

Since the colonial powers divided Middle East by not existing boarders, the idea of pan-arabism (sentiments of collective Arab nationalism had already emerged in the Middle East in the early twentieth century) led Egypt and Syria unite and establish the United Arab Republic [5].

Whereas Egypt oppressed Syria's politics and economy (it was more centralized, military dictatorship), Syrian in fact turned in the Northern Region of the UAR. All Syrian politiacal parties were spared of the influence. What is why the Ba 'ath Party led by performed a coup d'йtat on March 8th, 1963 to change the participation the UAR in favor of Syria.

Three years later, in February 1966, one more coup d'йtat occurred led by representatives of the military elite Salah Jadid, Hafez al-Assad, Salim Hatum, Mustafa Tlas - this time the independent Syrian government was established. The Jadid radical government was lately replaced with Hafez al Assad government following neo-baathism (rejecting the idea of pan-arabism).

Since 1970, when Hafez family ruled Syria, Ba'ath party has been a major political power in the state. There is a variety of political parties in Syria, but in fact, Syria is a one-party system, because all smaller parties are permitted to exist only being based on the Ba'ath's party rules in the framework of National Political Front (NFP) - the coalition of smaller parties, that support Ba 'ath party [2]. Thereafter ba'athism transformed into Assadism. Assadism - is the action of supporting the Syrian Al-Assad regime blindly and whitout rationality, becoming a faithfull praiser to a point in wich it becomes a religion [14]. Hafez al-Assad declared the Ba'ath to be «the leader of state and society» [4].

The Baath Party remains hugely influential, but real power is concentrated in the hands of President Assad, his family, close advisers, the military and security services. Despite this, in the eyes of many Syrians the party embodied the corruption, nepotism and stagnation that became so widespread [8].

The civil war in Syria is mistakenly concidered to be a religious conflict. But anyway the loyalty of religious group to government of Assad always played an essential role. Since some religious communities support the regime than others, mutual religious intolerance in many parts of the country occurs. The fact is, that most of rebels are Sunni Muslims - they are majority in the Syria. While President Assad belongs to the Alawite minority (Shiite sect of Islam). Although Assad regime tents to be a secular regime, Alawites are alleged to enjoy privileged access to top government jobs and business opportunities - most of the top rank in Assad's army and intelligence services are Alawites, making the Alawite community as a whole closely identified with the government camp in the civil war. But anyway, religious leaders of this minority claim to be independent from Assad and do not show neither their support or condemn of Assad's regime [6].

As we can see, the origins of the Syrian vulnerability derive not from the sectarian divisions - this version is often spread by Western propaganda in mass media. In fact the deterioration of situation in Syria hugely depended on social and economic factors.

Neoliberalization and privatization process started under the president Hafez al - Assad and continued after 2000 with Bashar's rise to power. Neoliberalisation means empowering the private sector with control upon economic activity. It is based on limiting subsidies, expantion of the tax base, reducing deficit spending, limiting protectionism and opening markets up for international trade and privatisation of state property and businesses [7]. In result of neoliberalisation policy the inequality in society has developed - people, who had strong ties with Assad regime became a new bourgeoisie, while rural population plunged into poverty [1]. Since the Ba 'ath party's coup d'etat in 1963 Syrian economy was put under extreme pressure by government. It tried to provide free education and run big industrial projects. But fruitlessly, since corruption on the high level and low productivity were obstacles Syria failed to overcome.

After defeat in the 6-days War with Israel Syrian economy faced even bigger unemployment and decline of resources. But fortunately in 1970s the discovery of oil basins gave Syria an opportunity to stability itself. By mid 1980 s, Syria began to shift towards an export-oriented economy. During this phase of liberalization the private sector was encouraged to be the main agent of economic development.

Entering the 1980 s Syria was faced a decline in aid due to a drastic drop in oil prices, a rising trade deficit. This economic crisis precipitated the loosening of state control over the economy. The reforms had an uneven affect on different social groups and classes.

The 1990s posed serious challenges to the Syrian regime. With the collapse of the East bloc, the dominance of the capitalist economy, and failing public sector performance, the Syrian regime reoriented its policy direction.

On one hand, Syria managed to clear a big part of its external debt through the financial rewards that it received from Arab states in return for its opposition of Kuwait's invasion by Iraq in 1991. On the other hand, Syria introduced investment Law No.10 with the hope of attracting Syrian, Kuwaiti and other Arab investors who fled Kuwait during the Iraqi invasion. By introducing this law, the state offered favorable conditions to investors. The private sector could now engage in any sector of the economy as the public sector became more and more limited in its sphere of activity.

This freedom of the private sector is demonstrated in the opening of previously restricted economic fields for investment. Furthermore, the private sector is offered tax incentives and the freedom to repatriate profits while benefiting from exemptions in customs duties and import restrictions. The push for increasing exports is supported with tax incentives. Taking advantage of the failing state of the public sector and a lack of vision for economic development, the private sector successfully strengthened its structural position within the Syrian economy. By the 1990s, the private sector had a bigger share of the Syrian economy in terms of investments in comparison to the public sector.

A number of challenges continue to exist for the Syrian regime, which forces it to remain involved in economic planning. The main reason for the public sector's involvement in the economy has been the inability of the private sector to take on the task of national economic development. Social policies and state expenditure are often supported not by taxes but through the sale of oil, which according to the IMF will be depleted by 2020. At the same time, the performance of the private sector has been marginal in terms of positive growth and redistributive measures. The rate of job creation has declined from 4,8 % in 1990 to 2,9 % in 2000 [11].

Having succeded the President seat, Bashar al-Assad initiated the acceleration of neoliberation changes - moving towards social market economy. That caused the foreign investments to grow, banking and tourism to develope. Despite the increase in GDP the growth was not redistributed among the population evenly but instead brought an increase of unemployment and social inequalities.

Due to this agricultural share of GDP declined from 7,8 per cent to 2,2 per cent between 2005 and 2010 repressing Syrians economicaly. According to a UNDP report, poverty increased from 30,1 % in 2004 to 33,6 % in 2007. The growing poverty was exacerbated by the cancellation of state subsidies after 2005, which had particularly negative effects in north-eastern Syria during the severe drought between 2006 and 2010.

A drought in the north-east Syria between 2006 and 2010 led the poorest and most deprived parts of Syria to join the uprising. The region was also the country's breadbasket and source of oil. Since 2000, this region has been rapidly sinking further into poverty as groundwater reserves were depleted and a series of overambitious agricultural development projects overstretched both land and water resources [13].

Contrary to Arab spring in other states, in Syria the revolution originated in the periphery and spread to the largest two cities - Damascus and Aleppo. This is not because the urban cities did not share the same aspirations, but rather was due to the tight control of the Assad regime on the major cities. At the core of the tight control of the Assad family are strengthened military and security apparates. He has an extensive mukhabarat (intelligence) network provided the regime with powerful and wide-ranging control of the population, especially in the larger urban areas.

The sharpening of social splits in the country was also deteriorated by increasing growth in unemployment of youth population. In the period leading up to the events of 2011, the region had been experiencing an increase in social struggles. No independent trade union had existed in Syria for decades, as a matter of regime policy. The regime, indeed, controlled every aspect of society. Radio and television outlets were almost entirely state-owned.

At the turn of the century, with Bashar's arrival to power, many Syrians and external observers believed the leader's liberal democratic discourse. He pledged to improve transparency and accountability, fight corruption and in the first six months of his rule, he granted amnesty to a number of political prisoners and exiled dissidents. This led to the so-called Damascus Spring, which, together with the Damascus Declaration of 2005 would represent the most important civil society mobilization preceding the 2011 uprising.

Yet the opening of the public space did not last long, and the country soon returned into «silence». A Freedom House report in 2010 ranked Syria the 178th country worldwide in terms of freedom, with a repression of freedom score of 83 per cent, on par with Saudi Arabia.

To make a conclusion, after the World War I, France, Great Britain and Russia had held negotiations on the future of Ottoman Empire since it owned a vast territory in the Middle East. According to this agreement the territory of France had a strategic interest in Syria, Aleppo due to the vast amount of investment brought in this region.

Despite of positive impact, France left heritage, that bothers Syria till now - the Shebaa Farms and the Hatay region. Both of them are unsolved territorial disputes.

Another issue, that makes Syria more diverse is Kurdish question. The fact, that Kurds were stateless since 1960s caused a lot of violence between Kurds and Syrian state officials in 2007.

So the main issues that have effected Syria's crisis are historical background, geographical position, political conflicts, ethnical diversity and mass-media influence.

From the very beginning of 2011 the Syrian crisis attracted the attention of the entire world community. Although the Arab Spring was the most obvious trigger, in fact, the causes of the Syrian crisis were accumulated for decades. It is not one prerequisite conflict, but a complex issue comprising various spheres of life including both inner and external factors. Historical aspect of Syrian crisis is a bright example how unresorved issues of the past may destabilize situation in the present, and how authoritarian form of governance may complicate co-exsistence in the democratic world.

syria bashar crisis political

1. Angela Joya, (2011) A Comparative Study of Neoliberalism in Syria and Egypt. Confronting global neoliberalism: Third World Resistance and Development Strategies, Publisher: Clarity Press.

2. GlobalSecurity.org.

3. Golan Heights profile.

4. Harvard divinity school. The Ba'ath Party in Syria.

5. International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences.

6. Manfreda, Primoz. «Religion and the Syrian Civil War». ThoughtCo, Sep. 30, 2018.

7. Neoliberalism.

8. Profile : Syria's ruling Baath Party.

9. Sykes-Picot Agreement.

10. Syria's «Lost Province»: The Hatay Question Returns.

11. The economic roots of Syria's revolution.

12. The Palestine-Israel Journal of Politics, Economics, and Culture.

13. The socio-economic roots of Syria's uprising.

14. Urban Dictionary.

Размещено на Allbest.ru