The departure of the Kurdish fighter Kamal Abdi in Afrin

ARK News… the Kurdish politician in the Afrin region, the national figure, Kamal Abdi, on Tuesday, November 17, 2020, passed away, who is one of the first affiliates of a Kurdish party in Syria, the Kurdish Democratic Party in Syria, (current PDK-S).

A brief account of his life and struggle, as he wrote before his departure:

I was born in the village of “Gazê”, one of the villages in the Afrin region, in 1932, from a middle-class family, then I moved to the village of Kharza = “Xerza” / due to family disputes, then I grew up there until the age of ten till my father got out of prison.

During this period, I studied in the only primary school in the region, School/ “Cholaqa” in Khoja Abdi Ayşe / then I moved with the family to the village / “Keferdelê Jêrîn” / because of our properties there and I studied there at Khoja Khalil Hamkili / reading and writing / until I finished the Qur’an, then I moved to the only primary school in Afrin city center and obtained the primary certificate there in 1949 / then I transferred to the night preparatory school in Al-Mutanabi High School in Idlib, after I obtained a free scholarship because I was one of the first in the elementary certificate in Afrin, and because there was no place in the night school in Aleppo, I moved to / Idlib / and completed the preparatory stage there during which I received some socialist and communist Marxist principles at the hands of the teachers along with the academic program and for the material and health conditions, I could not continue in the study,then I joined the compulsory service in / 1953 / after leaving my studies and after completing the military service in / 1954 / I entered the job in Aleppo to secure the livelihood of the children, so I joined the Communist Party in Aleppo because I was convinced that it is the party that recognizes the rights of nationalities, including Kurdish nationalism, is the hope for achieving national rights for us. The Kurds of Syrian Kurdistan at that time, Syria was living in a democratic, parliamentary rule in which all nationalities and groups lived without separation, then, during the years 1955-1956 a disagreement occurred between us, the Kurdish communists, and the party over some Kurdish national demands and rights, which was among the principles of the party and recognized it.

After many deliberations, we did not reach an agreement, and here there were dialogues and contacts between young Kurdish intellectuals who believed in the rights of the Kurds, and some were affiliated with the Students Association in Aleppo. There was also the Kurdish Khiyaboun Association on the Jazira region and during these dialogues, they reached a common conviction of the need to form a Kurdish party for Syrian Kurds.

The Kurdistan Democratic Party was founded on June 14, 1957, / by the founders, whom I remember: Professor Rashid Hamo - Shawkat Hanan - Muhammad Ali Khoja - Khalil Muhammad Abdullah from the Kurds Mountain (Afrin), the great fighter Othman Sabri / Abu / from Damascus, Professor Hamid Darwish - and Hamza Nuweran from Jazira, and the fighter, Dr. Noraddin Zaza.

A source from Afrin told ARK that the national figure Kamal Abdi passed away on Tuesday in Afrin Hospital, and he was buried in his village, Kafardale.

706