page_title: Kurdish Democratic Progressive Party
section_title: Ideology
hierarchical_section_title: Kurdish Democratic Progressive Party / Ideology
caption_attribution_description: English: Abd al-Hamid Darwish, head of the Kurdish Democratic Progressive Party in Syria
context_page_description: The Kurdish Democratic Progressive Party in Syria is one of the oldest Kurdish parties in Syria, having been active since seceding from the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Syria the 1960s. Prominently led by Abd al-Hamid Darwish, who was described as "one of the last remaining of the original Kurdish political activists", the PDPKS serves as the Syrian sister party of the Iraqi Patriotic Union of Kurdistan. Known for its moderate and conciliatory politics, the party has sided at different times during the Syrian Civil War with the Syrian opposition, the Ba'athist government, the Kurdish National Council, and the Democratic Union Party.
context_section_description: Since its foundation, the Kurdish Democratic Progressive Party has defined itself through its generally moderate ideological position, adopting both centre-left to centre-right politics, while leaning more to the former than the latter. When Abd al-Hamid Darwish was still in the KDPS, he espoused the modernist Kurdish nationalism as promoted by Nûredin Zaza, thus belonging to the left camp of the KDPS. However, as the more conservative elements left the KDPS, and the whole party generally drifted left, Darwish found himself as head of the KDPS' right wing, which did not approve of the other party members' populist Marxist communism. Thus, when Darwish's faction seceded in 1965, it was essentially a centre-left group mostly composed of progressive members of the urban middle class and rural upper class. As result, the PDPKS is considered part of the "Kurdish Right", although some observers have also considered it socialist. Since its foundation, the PDPKS generally supports democracy, gender equality, and separation of religion and state.
  Just like its ideological position in general could be defined as moderate, the PDPKS' view on Kurdish nationalism and self-rule in Syria has for most its history been cautious. The party usually only called for the realization of the "cultural, political, and social rights" of Kurds (and minorities in general) in Syria instead of autonomy. In addition, the party avoided referring to Kurds as "national group". In hopes of preventing open conflict, the PDPKS generally maintained channels with the Syrian government, was critical of aggressive opposition parties, and denounced the PYD's attempts to establish Rojava as de facto autonomous region in 2013. Since then, however, the party has increasingly adopted a more staunch Kurdish nationalism, and was openly calling for Kurdish self-rule in Syria by 2017.
  In contrast to other Kurdish parties in Syria which tended to fracture, the PDPKS maintained relatively high cohesion under the long-time leadership of Abd al-Hamid Darwish.
caption: PDPKS Secretary-General Abd al-Hamid Darwish, c. 2014
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