Sabri began to formulate a party program in the Kurdish language together with Jalal Talabani, who at the time has settled in Damascus in exile.

[4] Osman Sabri, Nûredin Zaza and Abdul Hamid Darwish, along with some other Kurdish politicians, founded the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Syria (KDPS) on the 14 June 1957.

KDPS was never legally recognized by the Syrian state and remains an underground organization, especially after a crackdown in 1960 during which several of its leaders were arrested, charged with separatism and imprisoned.

These policies coincided with the beginning of Mustafa Barzani's uprising in Iraqi Kurdistan and the discovery of oilfields in the Kurdish-inhabited areas of Syria.

Syrian troops crossed the Iraqi border and moved into the Kurdish town of Zakho in pursuit of Barzani's peshmerga[7] KDPS went through several divisions in the 1960s.

This was in response to the party's statement regarding the government's actions in implementing the Arab Belt Project's measures in the Kurdish regions back in 1973.

[9] Historian Jordi Tejel has identified "Greater Kurdistan" as being a "Kurdish myth" that was promoted to Syrian Kurds by the KDPS.

In 1975, Muhammad Baqi Mulla Mahmoud spearheaded the initial division by establishing the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Party.

[14][15] Muhyiddin Sheikh Ali's decision to defect from the party was based on his objection to the Kurdish involvement in the Syrian legislative elections.

He exploited the Party's ongoing issues and claimed to be following the Mustafa Barzani line and obeying the Kurdish leadership in Iraqi Kurdistan.