Mashaal Tammo | |
|---|---|
مشعل تمو | |
| Born | Mashaal Tammo 1958 (1958) |
| Died | October 7, 2011(2011-10-07) (aged 52–53) |
| Cause of death | Assassination |
| Other names | Mash'al Tammo |
| Occupation(s) | Politician, Activist |
| Organization | Kurdish Future Movement |
| Known for | Kurdish rights activism, Political leadership |
| Notable work | Founder ofKurdish Future Movement |
| Political party | Kurdish Future Movement |
| Movement | Syrian revolution,Kurdish political movement |
| Opponent | Syrian Government |
| Children | Fares Tammo |
Mashaal Tammo, also Mash'al Tammo (Arabic:مشعل تمو,romanized: Mashʿal Tammo,Kurdish:مشەل تەمۆ,romanized: Mişel Temo; 1958 – October 7, 2011) was aSyrian Kurdish politician and activist who supported the interests of theminority of the Kurds.
Tammo was released in 2010 after spending more than three years in jail. Founding the liberalKurdish Future Movement party he angered both the government and rivals in the Kurdish community.[1] His outspoken vision towards a pluralistic democratic Syria, in which Kurds would take part just the way all other Syrians do, dismissed any kind of regional autonomy as demanded by most other Kurdish parties. This even led him to dissociate his party from the Syrian Kurdish political scene. When he met with representatives from the major Kurdish parties in Syria following his release from prison, he announced to them that "he did not belong to the Kurdish movement, but was a part of the Syrian revolution." When the other politicians asked him to reconsider, he refused to do so and withdrew the Future Movement from theKurdish Patriotic Movement umbrella alliance. Though he later tried to rejoin the alliance, the other parties blocked any such action.[2]
He was also a member of the executive committee of the newly formedSyrian National Council, a broad-based front bringing together opposition figures inside and outside the country in an attempt to unify the deeply fragmented dissident movement.[3]
In the turmoil of the2011 Syrian uprising, Tammo was assassinated by masked men who burst into an apartment and gunned him down on 7 October 2011. The next day, more than 50,000 mourners marched throughQamishli in a funeral procession for him. Security forces fired into the crowds, killing five people.[3] Tammo's son, Fares Tammo, has urged Syria's Kurds to throw their support behind the revolt, telling the New York Times: "My father's assassination is the screw in the regime's coffin. They made a big mistake by killing my father."[4]
The Syrian government blamed "armed terrorists" and an "international Conspiration against Syria“.[5] TheKurdistan Workers' Party, however, accused the government in Turkey of carrying out the assassination stating that "this assassination against a Kurdish politician [was] carried out by Turkey. Turkey already has a very profound history record of political assassinations on the Kurdish people and other ethnic backgrounds, both in Turkey and in the region."[6] In October 2012, Saudi-owned TV channelAl-Arabiya claimed thatBashar al-Assad himself had engaged theAir Force Intelligence Directorate to assassinate Tammo.[7]
At least two Syrian KurdishFree Syrian Army units adopted names in honor of Mashaal Tammo: The smallMashaal Tammo Brigade underOsama Hilali unsuccessfully fought against theYPG during theBattle of Ras al-Ayn;[8] while a unit in easternGhouta was known asMartyr Meshaal Temmo Brigade until its ideology changed to radicalIslamism, whereupon it changed its name toMujahidOsama bin Laden Brigade.[9] A "Martyr Mashaal Tammo Brigade" under Abu Maryam al-Hasakawi also took part in theTurkish military operation in Afrin in 2018[10][11] as a subunit of theSultan Murad Division before the al-Hasakawi was arrested and his grouped renamed as the 213th Brigade,[12] though it is not known if this unit is related to the aforementioned two.
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