Profile: Abdul Basit Sida

Beirut: Kurdish activist Abdul Basit Sida, who was named on Sunday to lead the opposition Syrian National Council, is known for his integrity but insiders say he has little political experience.

Born in 1956 in Amuda, a mostly Kurdish city in north-eastern Syria, Sayda is an expert in ancient civilisations and author of a number of books on Syria’s Kurdish minority but is Arabic educated.

He does not belong to any political party and his name is not familiar to many Syrians but SNC officials say he is a “conciliatory” figure, “honest” and “independent”.

The SNC has been criticised for not representing the full diversity of Arabs, Kurds, Sunnis, Alawites, Christians, Druze and other ethnic and religious groups in Syria.

Syria’s Kurds represent around nine per cent of Syria’s 23 million population. Most of them live in the north of the country and in Damascus.

They complain of persistent discrimination, and demand recognition for their Kurdish culture and language, and that they be treated as full-fledged citizens.

A dozen Kurdish political groups are banned by Syrian authorities.

“Sida does not have a lot of political experience, he doesn’t have a long history in the opposition,” said Monzer Makhous, coordinator for the SNC’s external relations in Europe.

But “he has good relations with everyone”, added George Sabra, a veteran activist based in Paris, who is member of the coalition’s executive board.

Sida is also on the board and heads the bloc’s human rights department. His key challenge will be to turn the SNC into a credible interlocutor for the international community.

His friend and fellow Kurdish militant Massu Akko describes Sida as “honest, level-headed and cultured”.

“He is very loyal to Syria and to the Kurdish question, but he is a moderate. It is therefore a message sent to the Kurds and all the minorities,” said the SNC’s external relations chief, Basma Kodmani.

Sida, 55, is married and has four daughters and a son.

He holds a doctorate in philosophy from Damascus University and was a university professor in Libya for three years until he left for exile in Sweden in 1994, where he switched his interest to ancient civilisations.