Violations of the Turkish occupation army continue against the people in the occupied areas of northwestern Syria (Jrablos, Bab, Azaz, Afrin and Idlib.)
Violations against the people
A source from al-Bab said that the mercenaries in the villages of Noman, Tal Jarji, Nesibin, Qebasin and Qubbat Sheih are abusing indigenous people, especially in the Kurdish-majority villages.
According to the sources, the mercenaries impose royalties on the families and practice kidnappings to blackmail the residents and force them to pay money for the release of the abductees.
The Turkifiacation continuous
The same source confirmed that about 80% of the original inhabitants of al-Bab were forced out of their areas occupied by the Turkish army and mercenaries.
Since mid-August 2016, Turkey has occupied about 10% of Syria’s territory, and has followed the policy of Turkifiacation and demographic change.
The Turkish occupation army has housed tens of thousands of mercenary families in the homes of displaced people, and Turkish flags have been raised over institutions and in public squares.
Turkish language was imposed in schools, identity cards were issued by the Turkish state and young men were forced to join the ranks of mercenary groups belonging to Turkey.
Burning of crops and land grabs
The source added that the farmers in the villages of Noman, Tal Jarji, Nesibin, Qebasin and Qubbat Sheih, the predominantly Kurdish are being robbed, mercenaries do not allow them to harvest, and the mercenaries seize those agricultural lands to establish houses and shops.
Fearing angry reactions to these practices, the Turkish occupation army and its mercenaries suppress any form of protest and put hundreds of abductees in prison.
Forced marriage
The source said that widowed women are forced to marry mercenaries and to wear the niqab, and women avoid going out of their homes for fear of the practices of mercenary groups.
A.H ANHA
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The emptiness of Turkey’s complaints against Syrian Kurds
James Jeffrey, a former U.S. ambassador to Turkey, continues to seek to appease Turkish saber-rattling and appears ready to facilitate Turkish entrance into Kurdish-administered northeastern Syria.
This would be a terrible idea for several reasons:
- The Kurdish zone in Syria is the most stable and secure region in the country.
- The Kurds almost single-handedly defeated al Qaeda and then the Islamic State at a time when both received support from the Turkish intelligence service and members of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s family, if not Erdoğan himself. Kurdish forces allied with the United States when Turkey sought to undermine the U.S. position.
- Turkish intelligence is deeply flawed and politicized.
- Turkey’s previous incursion into northern Syria ended in anti-Kurdish ethnic cleansing.
Before President Trump and Jeffrey make any more concessions to Erdoğan and his imperial ambitions, it might be useful for them to consider whether Turkey’s stated grievances are real, or rather a tactic to extract concessions.
Turkish officials state repeatedly that Kurdish-controlled northern Syria poses a terror threat, and that the Kurdistan Workers Party uses the zone as a safe haven from which to stage attacks into Syria.
The Rojava Information Center, a Syrian Kurdish think tank, just released a database of all incidents, almost three dozen in all, across the Turkey-Syria border this year. They found that all but one of the attacks was staged from Turkey into Syria, rather than the other way around. These attacks included heavy weapons and rocket fire from Turkish positions into northeast Syria, killing 27, all of whom were civilian and one of whom was a child. In contrast, there was only one attack from northeast Syria into Turkey, with the perpetrator arrested by the Syrian Defense Forces, the Kurdish-dominated local militias.
Frankly, if Turkey’s concern is the fight against terrorism, diplomats should base their policy on reality rather than what increasingly appears to be yet one more example of tendentious Turkish demands. If either Jeffrey or his Turkish interlocutors dispute the Rojava Information Center database, it’s time they release their own record of Kurdish terrorism emanating from Syria. Their silence suggests, frankly, Turkish grievances are without merit and, therefore, U.S. efforts to appease Turkey at the expense of the Kurds to be both counterproductive and immoral. Rather than Kurdish terrorism, it is Turkey’s proposed buffer zone, Turkey’s revanchism, and its use of fake grievances to justify its imperialism that poses the greatest threat to the region.
Michael Rubin (@Mrubin1971) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog. He is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and a former Pentagon official.
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The Battle for the Mountain of the Kurds: Self-Determination and Ethnic Cleansing in the Afrin Region of Rojava
In early 2018, Turkey invaded the autonomous Kurdish region of Afrin in Syria and is currently threatening to ethnically cleanse the region. Between 2012 and 2018, the “Mountain of the Kurds” (Kurd Dagh) as the area has been called for centuries, had been one of the quietest regions in a country otherwise torn by civil war.
After the outbreak of the Syrian civil war in 2011, the Syrian army withdrew from the region in 2012, enabling the Party of Democratic Union (PYD), the Syrian sister party of Abdullah Öcalan’s outlawed Turkish Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) to first introduce a Kurdish self-administration and then, in 2014, to establish the Canton Afrin as one of the three parts of the heavily Kurdish Democratic Federation of Northern Syria, which is better known under the name Rojava.
This self-administration—which had seen multiparty municipal and regionwide elections in the summer and autumn of 2017, which included a far-reaching autonomy for a number of ethnic and religious groups, and which had provided a safe haven for up to 300,000 refugees from other parts of Syria—is now at risk of being annihilated by the Turkish invasion and occupation.
Thomas Schmidinger is one of the very few Europeans to have visited the Canton of Afrin. In this book, he gives an account of the history and the present situation of the region. In a number of interviews, he also gives inhabitants of the region from a variety of ethnicities, religions, political orientations, and walks of life the opportunity to speak for themselves. As things stand now, the book might seem to be in danger of becoming an epitaph for the “Mountain of the Kurds,” but as the author writes, “the battle for the Mountain of the Kurds is far from over yet.”
Praise:
“Preferable to most journalistic accounts that reduce the Rojava revolution to a single narrative. It will remain an informative resource even when the realities have further changed.”
—Martin van Bruinessen, Kurdish Studies on Rojava: Revolution, War and the Future of Syria’s Kurds
About the Contributors:
Thomas Schmidinger is a political scientist and a cultural and social anthropologist. He teaches at the University of Vienna and is both secretary-general of the Austrian Society for the Promotion of Kurdology and coeditor of the Vienna Kurdish Studies Yearbook. He is the author of a number of books on migration, cultural integration, the Middle East, and other topics, several of which have been translated. His previously translated book Rojava: Revolution, War and the Future of Syria’s Kurds was published by Pluto Press in 2018.
Andrej Grubačić is the chair of the Anthropology and Social Change department at the California Institute of Integral Studies. His books include Don’t Mourn, Balkanize: Essays after Yugoslavia. Andrej is a member of the International Council of the World Social Forum, the Industrial Workers of the World, and the Global Balkans Network.
Michael Schiffmann is a linguist, cultural scientist, translator, editor, and author and teaches at the Universities of Heidelberg and Mannheim. He is working on a research project on the history of Noam Chomsky’s generative grammar and is active in the international campaigns to free Mumia Abu-Jamal and Leonard Peltier. He has translated works by Mumia Abu-Jamal, Homi K. Bhabha, Noam Chomsky, Mahmoud Darwish, Angela Davis, Amy Goodman, Ilan Pappé, Miko Peled, and Edward Said.
Product Details:
Author: Thomas Schmidinger • Preface: Andrej Grubačić • Translator: Michael Schiffmann
Publisher: PM Press/Kairos
ISBN: 978-1-62963-651-1
Published: 03/01/2019
Format: Paperback
Size: 6×9
Page count: 192
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How is Afrin managed under occupation?
The distribution of mercenary groups and local councils affiliated to the Turkish occupation army in Afrin and their functional tasks confirms the Turkish strategy adopted in the occupied canton, which is based on quotas for looting, sabotaging, demographic change and harassment of the people.
The Turkish army and its mercenary groups occupied Afrin canton in March 18, 2018, after a brutal attack that began in January 20 of the same year, killing hundreds of civilians, injuring thousands, and displacing hundreds of thousands more from the canton as well as the destruction of infrastructure, worship places, health facilities and services
Following the occupation, the Turkish occupation army and its mercenaries began attempting to impose a system based on obliterating the identity of the occupied canton and changing its national and religious character by displacing the indigenous population and settling the families of mercenaries in their place, in addition to continuous thefts, looting and daily kidnappings.
Local sources told our agency that there are three intelligence headquarters in Afrin belonging to the Turkish state.
One is directly affiliated to Erdogan’s party, the second belongs to the so-called Turkish opposition and the third is directly linked to the Turkish Intelligence Department.
Afrin is run directly by a wali in Hatay, Turkey, meaning that the Turkish state views Afrin as a Turkish state.
When the Turkish occupation army and its mercenaries entered and occupied Afrin, they published a general circular among the factions and mercenary battalions.
Mercenary groups spread through the city
The mercenary groups are distributed in the city of Afrin, and each group has the right to do whatever it wants in the neighborhood under its occupation without any deterrence. The work of mercenary groups is complemented by local councils appointed by the Turkish occupation to complement the work of mercenary groups.
Ashrafiyya neighborhood is occupied by the mercenaries of Jabha Shamiya while the Sultan Murad’s mercenaries occupy the area between Zaydiyah and Mahmudiyah neighborhoods. As for Villat street, it is under the occupation of al-Hamzat mercenaries, and the area between Villat street and Zaidiyya district is under the mercenaries of Mutasim brigade with the mercenaries of Sultan Murad.
On every street in Afrin, there is a headquarter run by 10 mercenaries, whose main task is to tell the people who oppose the occupation and the people of Afrin who come from abroad.
These headquarters control the aspects of life and prevent locals from visiting their relatives without permission from the headquarters.
In each prison, the kidnapped from Afrin, who are released if their families pay large sums of money, are detained which punishment is decided according to the accusation the mercenaries themselves make.
Abductors sometimes make choices between 45 days in prison or paying $ 300.
In some cases, the abductees are transferred to prisons under the control of the Turkish authorities in Kilis and Gaziantep, Turkey, where thousands of Afrin residents are said to be abducted.
In the countryside, the situation is no different from the city and the same mechanisms are followed.
Countless mercenary groups
In addition, there are three corps in Afrin (1st, 2nd and 3rd Corps). Each corps consists of four divisions, each division has several brigades, each brigade has a number of battalions and each battalion includes 60 to 70 mercenaries.
Where does mercenaries’ funding come from?
Ahrar Sharqiya Jaish Asharqiya and Shuhada’a Badr mercenaries, and some other groups rely, financially speaking, on looting and asking for ransoms.
The rest of the mercenaries of Sultan Murad, Sultan Fatih and Firqat Hamzat are financed directly by the Turkish state.
At the beginning of the occupation of Afrin, each element used to be paid 1000-800 TL, now, each element is paid 300 TL.
How the battalion of Meshaal Tammo was liquidated
Although some of the accomplices cooperated with the Turkish occupation at the beginning of the attack, they received a humiliating fate.
Meshaal Tammo battalion participated in the occupation of Afrin and after 8 months it was liquidated by the Turkish occupation army.
The battalion was run by Mohammed al-Sheikh (Abu Mariam al-Haskawi) and Abu Mariam al-Afrini from Jalma village, and they had 300 elements and after 8 months, they were liquidated, where the Turkish army kidnapped Mohammed al-Sheikh and took them to al-Rai prison in Azaz where he was killed in prison by mercenaries of Sultan Murad, while Abu Mariam al-Afrini has been kidnapped and his fate is still unknown.
Meshaal Tamo’s mercenaries hoped to have a share of Afrin occupation, but they were left empty-handed.
Stealing women jewelry
Ahrar al-Sham mercenaries recruited a group of settler women whose job was to loot and steal jewelry and money from Afrin women through anesthesia.
This group puts a piece of cloth containing narcotic substances on the mouths of women when they enter their homes and after the loss of consciousness, they steal their jewelry and money.
Establishment of camps in Afrin
Since the Turkish occupation of Afrin, the Turkish occupation army and its mercenaries have established three camps in the village of Deir Balut in Janders district, Bulbul district, Shera district, and every camp hosts thousands of displaced people, these camps were established for Afrin people to settled in.
The percentage of settlers in Afrin is estimated at 75%, and the settlers were settled in the homes of Afrin residents.
What is the function of councils?
The agent councils to the Turkish occupation in Afrin have the job of stealing money from the people, where they interfere in every single matter.
For example, when the olive harvest begins, 10% of the output is deducted to the local council, 10% to the military council and 15% to the protection committee. After transferring the olives to the press, the oil is deducted between the farms and the mercenaries occupying the village.
Hundreds of agents and traitors in Afrin
On every street in Afrin and in every village, there are agents and traitors working for mercenaries and the occupation army whose job is to report opponents of the Turkish occupation and accuse the people to collect money.
Among the agents and traitors is Filmaz Osman from the village of Deir Sawan, located in the district of Shera since the occupation of Afrin, has accused more than 300 citizens on various charges and each citizen paid $ 400 for his/her release, some of whom fate is still unknown.
J.O ANHA
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KCK’s Bayik: People of northern Syria must prepare for war
Cemil Bayik describes the Turkish state with its expansionist character as a basic problem for the Middle East and says: “The Turkish state is a danger not only for the Kurds, but for all.”
According to the KCK (Kurdistan Communities Union) Executive Council Co-chair Cemil Bayik, the Turkish state attacks the Kurdish freedom movement because it is a bulwark against its anti-Kurdish goals. However, the attacks are not directed against PKK alone. Turkey is trying to legitimize its aggression by denouncing the presence of the PKK in South Kurdistan and by representing North Syria as a threat to its own. However, this does not correspond to the truth, says Bayik and asks: “Is the PKK also present in the eastern Mediterranean or in Libya?”
ANF spoke to Cemil Bayik about the latest developments. Here are translated excerpts from the interview.
According to Bayik, it is clear that the AKP-MHP alliance with its big Turkish self-image cannot survive without war: “The attitude toward the Kurdish people has not changed. They will continue to practice a dirty policy against the Kurds and continue their occupation and massacres. The oppression of the peoples in Turkey will continue as well. Therefore, they want to destroy everything that bears the name ‘Kurdish’ or ‘Kurdistan’, to rebuild the nation state, to re-conquer Ottoman territory and once again reach the borders of the National Pact. To this end, they are waging a war in the Middle East, trying to strengthen their position in the region. On June 23 (in the elections) they suffered a heavy blow. Then they made the war the basis of their policy, to hide their weakness, to paralyze the democratic forces, and to stay in power.
The problem is not the PKK
The Turkish state is trying to achieve its goal by arguing that: ‘We have nothing against Kurds, we oppose the PKK and only we fight it.’ Fragmentation of the Kurds has always been a crucial tactic of Turkish fascism. Throughout its history, Turkish fascism aimed to destroy the Kurds. Those Kurdish actors who stand by Erdoğan and Bahçeli should know this very well. They are directed against themselves, their own people, not the PKK. They owe nothing to the Turkish state and they do not have to serve it. If it wasn’t for the PKK, they would have achieved no gains today. So, they owe to the PKK.
Turkey’s hatred is not only against the Kurds of Bakur (North Kurdistan) or the PKK, it is directed against the entire Kurdish people. This reality is seen clearly in Bashur (South Kurdistan) and Rojava (West Kurdistan). Some Kurds in Rojava and South Kurdistan say, ‘That’s right, the Turkish state is attacking because the PKK is here. If the PKK did not exist then such attacks would not take place. ‘For those who think so I would like to point out the situation in Libya and the eastern Mediterranean. There is no PKK in Libya, but everyone knows that Turkey is the cause of the problems there. Therefore, it is not about the presence of the PKK. The PKK defends the dignity of the Kurdish people. That’s why Turkey is attacking. Turkey attacks of all Kurds in the person of the PKK. The Kurds should see this and not put themselves in the service of the fascist Turkish state.
Turkey dangerous for everyone
Turkey is currently talking about a ‘peace corridor’. At the moment, the peoples of northern and eastern Syria live in brotherhood. They want to create and develop their own democratic system. Turkey is an enemy of democracy and liberties. It is an enemy of brotherhood and peoples. Turkey has designed its own plan and acts accordingly. The basis of this plan is the question of how to best divide the Kurds, how to separate the Kurds in Bakur from those in Bashur and those in Rojava. As part of this plan, the Kurds are meant to be expelled and replaced with other people that Turkey sees as “favorable”.
We have to understand the goal exactly
When Turkey keeps talking about invading northern Syria, it also says, ‘We will destroy this region and settle the refugees from Syria there.’ At the same time, it plans to deploy its own militias there. We can see the implementation of this plan in the case of Afrin. The Kurdish people must understand this reality exactly and oppose it with all its possibilities. The peoples of northern Syria must also understand the goal of Turkey exactly. In this sense, the peoples of the region must further concretize their brotherhood and further develop the struggle through their organization.
People should prepare for resistance to the occupation
It is now necessary to build self-defense forces against a Turkish invasion, defense and security. If this does not happen, there will be a great danger. It does not look like that peace will be ensured in Syria in the near future. In the Middle East ravages the Third World War and it will go on. This war can expand even further. That’s why it’s not about the question of a peaceful solution. Nobody should cling to such hope and deceive themselves. Therefore, both the people and the defense forces of Northern Syria should prepare for war. The defense must be expanded in every respect. That’s what has to happen. There is no other way to prevent the invasion by Turkey.
They are planning worse than in Afrin
The coalition, Russia and Syria must grasp this reality. The Arab peoples must also understand this. The Kurds, together with the Arabs, must courageously oppose the Turkish invasion. The Turkish state wants to strike a wedge between the Kurdish and the Arab population. They want to use some militia groups and cooperating Arabs for the occupation of northern and eastern Syria. They say that places like Girê Spî, Şêxler and Serêkaniyê are not Kurdish but Arab lands. They say they will settle there the Arabs who have fled to Turkey. ‘They want to repeat what they did in Afrin. Everyone knows what the Turkish state and its militias did to the people of Afrin. Everyone sees how the Kurds in particular, but also all other peoples, are oppressed. If Turkey invades northern Syria, it will be worse than in Afrin. Everyone has to understand that. Therefore, all options must be used to strengthen the resistance.”
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Turkish regime and allied mercenaries attack civilians in Afrin
At least 127 artillery attacks have been carried out by Turkish forces and mercenaries on villages in Shera, Afrin, leaving many civilians wounded.
The villages of Meyase, Soxanekê, Zirnahitê and Aqibê in Shera district of Afrin have been under the attack of the Turkish invasion army and allied mercenaries since early this morning. According to the Rojava based Hawar News Agency (ANHA), the mentioned villages were targeted by at least 127 artillery attacks.
In the Aqibê village, 5 civilians have been wounded by the attacks, among them a kid and two women.
The wounded have been taken to hospital by Kurdish Red Crescent Heyva Sor a Kurd. One of these is reported to be a baby and the others were identified as Remzî Mehmûd (30), Kîbar Berekat (50), Sozan Alîko (23) and Mîrvan Berekat.
Heyva Sor a Kurd officials stated that the wounded civilians are in good condition.
In parallel with the attacks, the region is witnessing ongoing reconnaissance flights.
Afrin Liberation Forces(HRE) Media center issued a statement in which it revealed the outcomes of the operations carried out against the Turkish occupation army and mercenaries,” Since the evening of August 08, the Turkish occupation forces shelled the inhabited villages in the Shera district especially the villages of Marnaz and Al-Malikiyah with artillery and mortar shells. Clashes took place between our forces and the Turkish occupation soldiers and mercenaries in the village of Marnaz, which belongs to the district of Shera, where one of our fighters was martyred after he showed heroic resistance against the occupation and its mercenaries, where we will reveal his record in detail in the coming period.
In response, our forces carried out a specific operation targeting a military base of the Turkish occupation near the areas of clashes in the district of Shera, which resulted in the death of a number of Turkish soldiers , we were unable to determine the number of wounded and dead. Helicopters hovered over the area of Afrin to transport the dead and wounded.”
A.H
ANHA.
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Every place will turn into a battlefield, if Turkey attacks
The member of the General Command of the Syrian Democratic Forces(SDF), Newroz Ahmed, revealed the Turkish plan to occupy 32 km of the Syrian lands saying:” in the event of an attack by the Turkish state, the response will be decisive and every place will turn into a battlefield.”
Threats of the Turkish state continue in the north and east of Syria targeting all Syrian components under the pretext of establishing the so-called “safe area” at a depth of 32 km.
The administration of north and east of Syria provided some conditions regarding the “safe area” as follows: The safe area should be 5 km deep on the border and more outside the cities and not under the control of the Turkish state.
The Autonomous Administration said that Turkish troops can make joint patrols with coalition patrols on the border and in empty areas. This proposal was discussed by the concerned authorities. If this condition is applied, the return of the Afrin residents forcibly removed to their areas must be implemented.
Statistics of border cities “safe area”
All Syriac, Kurds, Arabs , Yezidis, Turkomans, Armenians, Circassians and Chechens live in Syria.
The north-east of Syria means al-Jazeera and the Euphrates regions, al-Jazeera region consists of 2 canton Qamishlo and al-Hasakah, while the Euphrates region consists of Kobani and “Gire Spi”/ Tal Abyad.
And the towns on the border strip of the safe area being discussed, Kobani, Serekaniye, Darbasiyah, Amouda, Qamishlo, Terbispia and Derik.
Turkish state practices from 2011 until 2019 on the border
The violations of the Turkish state on the northern and eastern regions of Syria are increasing day after day, and through these practices, the legitimacy of the so-called safe area is being tried in many ways.
The question is who needs a safe area at this stage?
The crimes of the Turkish state since 2011 up to now according to the statistics of the human rights organization in al-Jazeera, which the organization documented (apart from its practices in Afrin): 223 people were killed, 3 members were robbed, dozens were raped and abducted, 15 people were subjected to torture. In addition, the residents of 129 border villages were prevented from planting and harvesting their seasonal crops with a land area of approximately 27,633.1 dunums.
In this context, the member of the General Command of the Syrian Democratic Forces, Newroz Ahmed, answered ANHA’s questions regarding the threats of the Turkish state and the Turkish military buildup on the northern and eastern borders of Syria recently.
How did the “safe zone” begin?
We never addressed the issue of the safe area, because our areas are safe by nature, but after Daesh defeat, some forces wanted to control the region, but these forces did not succeed in achieving their goals. We have had relations with some neighboring countries such as Turkey, even if they are not official but at a high level. The Turkish state is better informed that we have never attacked its borders, and we have had no attempts to create a threat to Turkish state policy, but the severity of the threats the Turkish state has increased in recent times. In the words of its leaders, ” The Kurds got a role in Başûr Kurdistan, they will get it here too, but we will never allow them on our borders,” this is the real objective of the Turkish state of these threats.”
How is the safe area on the agenda?
We do not aim to attack the Turkish state, and we are working to repel attacks against our people at home, but the Turkish state always remembers that it does not want such a force on its borders. The safe area is on the agenda of discussions with Turkish threats. We, as the forces of protection and as the people of this region, say that our region is one of the most safe areas, that our people live in safety, live with their identity and free will. In addition, there are large numbers of displaced people living in our areas.
What does Turkey want from the realization of the safe area?
We do not want the continuation of the war on our land, and the pretexts that the Turkish state raises for us to solve by dialogue. The Turkish state occupies the land of another country before the eyes of the world, the state of al-Bab, Azzaz, Idlib and Afrin clear to the world. Now the Turkish state wants to occupy northern and eastern Syria. Our regions are safe, but we are open to a safe area, and we do not want our people to face new wars. As far as possible, we want to reach a result with these forces, that means being satisfied with the removal of the reasons and the pretext of the Turkish state.
Do you accept Turkey’s supervision over the safe area?
We can form border protection forces and ensure that no attack takes place on our part, but the Turkish state prevents the people of this region from protecting themselves, and we do not accept the protection of an external force for this area. Everyone should know that the Turkish state cannot survive in the region. It has killed a lot of our people, and this people cannot accept the Turkish state in this region.
What is the purpose of occupying the territory of northern and eastern Syria at a depth of 32 km?
The Turkish state plans to impose 32 km on its relations with some forces and the Syrian regime. According to the plan, 32 km will be under the control of the Turkish state. Other forces will enter southern Syria. And thus they want to divide the region among themselves, and eliminate all the achievements and gains achieved by the great sacrifices of the people of the region.
Is the mercenaries attacks have a relationship with the threats of the Turkish state?
Attacks by mercenaries are intensifying as the Turkish state’s threats to the region intensify, and this has become apparent recently. This indicates that the goal of the Turkish state is to revive mercenaries for control of the region and creating tension and instability. The families of Daesh said in the camps there that they would be active again. According to the intelligence we obtained, the sleeping cells said, “We will take revenge and we will return soon.” This is a great danger not only for the region but also for the world. We have managed to reduce the risk of arresting them, but in reality it is also difficult for us this situation there is a need to prosecute the international mercenaries of Daesh.
You met with the Central Command of the US Army in the Middle East, “Kenneth Mackenzie, and the International Alliance’s envoy against Daesh William Rubak, at what level was the dialogue between you, and how was the result?
We discussed with the US leaders the Turkish threats, our conditions for the “safe area” and the means of dialogue for the solution and the sleeping cells of Daesh. The US side focused on finding common solutions without entering the region by war. The position of the Turkish State hampers the solution, even if the recent talks have not reached a conclusion but are continuing.
The position of our people in northern and eastern Syria is a matter of appreciation and respect. The people are well aware that the objective of these threats is not only the Kurds, but the goal is to eliminate the brotherhood of the people of the region,we have achieved great achievements thanks to the support of our people in the difficult and critical stages, and we will protect our areas with our people on the ground, and we will protect it from the attacks of the Turkish state. We are open to dialogue, and we support attempts at a solution, but if necessary, we are ready to resist everywhere.
The Turkish media has been talking about the return of the Syrian refugees recently. Before the occupation of Afrin, the Turkish state was also making these absurd pretexts. What is the reason for this trading at this stage?
In order for the Turkish state to incite its attacks on the region, the situation of the displaced is publicized, but the people are not displaced to Turkey but live on their land. There are a large number of those who were accomplices to the Turkish and fled to Turkey. When Gire Spi released some small groups fled with the Free Army to Turkey. The Turkish State cannot take the return of these people as a pretext that they have been displaced from their land and must return. The Turkish state wants to take this as a platform for its attacks and legitimize it under this curtain, but it will not success.
How will your strategy be to respond to a possible attack?
If the Turkish state does not choose the dialogue for a solution, we will be prepared for war. If an attack is launched on any region, this attack will not be limited to this region. Rather, the long border with the Turkish state will become a region of war. What the Turkish state has done in Afrin wants to repeat it in other areas gradually. Of course, the war will pose great dangers to the people. There are millions of civilians and different components living on this land. This war will change the balance of the entire region. There are various forces in Syria and even the Syrian regime will try to regain control of the region, as well as there are Iranian forces and groups of mercenaries and still remain a significant threat to the region. If such a war took place, mercenaries would benefit and continue to practice their terrorism, and there would be thousands of displaced people in the camps, and this war would be a great threat to their lives. In addition, there are detainees from mercenaries, especially those arrested in the Deir ez-Zor campaign.
Do you have meetings with the Syrian regime regarding the threats of the Turkish state.
We have had some meetings with the Syrian regime in the past, but he wants to control all areas as if nothing happened and even impose conditions. The Syrian regime is trying to accuse us of cooperating with foreign powers, as if we were the ones who brought foreign forces to Syrian territory. this is not true. Even the Syrian regime knows very well that we have not brought external forces to our regions, and the current situation is the result of what the region has experienced.
In fact, the mentality of the Syrian regime was the reason for the entry of external forces into Syrian territory. The regime has sometimes declared its positions through media statements against the threats of the Turkish state, but the mentality has not changed towards the peoples of the region. We insist on holding meetings to change the mentality of denial and liquidation. These attacks pose a danger to the Syrian regime as well, because in the end it will occupy part of the Syrian territory. When Turkey attacks, the regime will not be able to discuss or resolve the issue, but the situation will be complicated. In short, we had some meetings with the Syrian regime, but unfortunately, we have not obtained results.
A.H ANHA
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Interview: Anarchist Volunteer with Kongra Star in Rojava
Published August 2, 2019
This interview was conducted by AMW with an anarchist volunteer from the US, who worked in civil structures in Rojava, predominantly at the Kongra Star Diplomacy office. Kongra Star is the administrative body that seeks to implement women’s liberation through increased awareness and involvement in civil projects.
How long were you in Rojava?
I was there for close to a year.
What inspired you to go?
After first hearing about the events happening in Rojava, I began to research it and felt that I couldn’t form any sort of real picture of what was going on there based on what I read. There was, of course, a lot of positive stuff coming out, but a lot of it had really similar content. I began to study Kurdish, hoping that by learning Kurdish I’d have more access to material about Rojava. I was hoping to go to study in Northern Kurdistan with family of some friends of mine, but it worked out that I had a chance to go to Rojava first. I didn’t know how long it would be possible to access Rojava, so I took the chance to go. I was also hoping to find an environment where people were creating a revolutionary movement that looked toward all parts of society. In my case, I was particularly interested in youth education: what would be the approach to teaching kids of a kindergarten/elementary school age, and what sort of culture would evolve around that? As it turned out, Rojava has fairly minimal structures of this kind. I’ve hear that in Bakur (North Kurdistan) there’s been more extensive work of this kind done, but in Rojava most schooling was piggybacking on the existing structures, with the biggest change being the inclusion of languages other than Arabic.
What structures / collectives were you involved in? What sort of work did you do? What were the goals of this work?
I began at the Internationalist Commune, for three or four months, then I transferred to working with the women’s movement at the Kongra Star Diplomacy office and on the Women Rise Up For Afrin Campaign.
Unfortunately, because of the threat of Turkish invasion in mid-December, a lot of civil projects got disrupted. We’d been discussing organizing a computer class for women located at the university. We were running into the issue of lack of computers, and by the time things returned to normal I didn’t have the ability to organize the class before I left. At Kongra Star we were mostly trying to develop the capacity of people at the office. A lot of people were eager to learn more about computers or English, but there weren’t many resources available, so I was trying to spread knowledge into the local community. I was helping with web/graphic design and translation. We had some formal lessons on computer skills, but I was also working in a more informal capacity – for example, checking over the english translations with the women who translated them, so they could improve their work. We also were trying to push for a transition to more secure online practices, like using Protonmail instead of gmail. Our office all had Protonmail addresses, now it just needs to spread to the rest of Kurdistan!
What kinds of relationships did you form through your work?
I made personal friends with some of the women I worked with, and would see them after work. Others I was on good terms with, but we didn’t spend much free time together. I met a lot of my friends’ families and extended families, who I would sometimes see walking around the city. I made friends with one of the drivers (and his family) as well as some of the security guards outside, who were part of the Asayish (basically the police, which was weird). I know someone else who’s a rapper who was able to tell me about the local hip hop scene, and unfortunate lack of a graffiti scene. He’s an awesome guy who’s really open, friendly and dedicated. His perspective on the city was really unique and through knowing him I was able to see a totally different side of things than I would see with some of my other friends. I have another good friend who I got to know, we keep in touch and she hopes to come out here to study English. She’s having trouble getting her paperwork from school, which is in an Assad regime supporting area. I guess somehow they heard she was working for the Self-Administration and are refusing to pass on her transcripts.
Did you get to experience any examples of collective life?
Everyday life in Syria tends to be fairly collective, organized around the family and home. This is doubly so in the villages, where the workload often includes tending to fields, trees, sheep/goats, and so on. The villages are often quite small, a few hundred people or less, so everyone knows each other and what’s going on with everyone else. The collective/communal projects in Northeast Syria take root in these kinds of relationships, which are longstanding and intergenerational.
Even in the city, there’s a village feel to the way people are interconnected.That being said, there are a lot of hardships that even a tight knit community can struggle to face, given the economic situation of Syria overall. Spending time in civil society made me understand how and why the Kurdish movement puts such a high value on collectivity, since families are generally a pretty high-knit collective unit.
I also experienced collective life in the Internationalist Commune. People participate in all activities communally, sharing time at meals, work, tea, education and so on. Although nominally collective, power was centered in the hands of certain individuals with a specific vision they wanted to implement. I understand that the people there are different now, so perhaps those with sympathies toward more authoritarian approaches are gone now. I can’t say. Overall I found it useful to be there to understand the mindset of the Kurdish movement, but there are big cultural differences that call for different approaches to collectivity in the US or in an anarchist context.
Did you get to view any of the revolutionary civil structures like HPC, the councils or work collectives? Or did you get to talk with anyone who did? What sort of impressions did they make on you?
Yes! A lot…
I was working in one, kind of. At the Kongra Star Diplomacy office the structure is more like a traditional office. We had a lot of work to do, like translation, web/social media, planning for events/delegations, and so on. We held intermittent tekmîl* but it wasn’t often necessary since our work generally proceeded pretty straightforwardly. Women were encouraged, but not required, to take part in a three-month closed education to learn some of the ideology of the Kurdish movement, which some did and some didn’t.
At the office, we were sort of what is called ‘heremî,’ which translates roughly to ‘locals’ – just average people who wound up working in the structure, whose ideologically commitment to the Kurdish struggle is not a precondition for joining. The salary was 60,000 Syrian a month, which is good but not enough to support a family on. Compare it to about 100,000 in some of the security fields like YPG or Asayiş. For some women, the pay was an important part of family income. For others, the experience of being outside the home/family was more central to why they worked there.
I also came into more superficial contact with many other civil structures, or people that were involved in them. The most impressive one was HPC-Jin (Women’s Force for the Protection of Society) which was made up of older women, mostly grandmothers or older mothers. They patrolled neighborhoods at night to make sure they were safe, helped provide security at events and marches, and did outreach to stay at home women to leach them about self defense and generally check on their well being. In my experience, the HPC-Jin women were incredibly involved in their communities both while they were in uniform as HPC-Jin and as citizens at home. They were generally very ‘welatparêz’ or pro-Kurdish movement, often with kids in YPJ/YPG. I was in Kurdish dominated areas so I don’t know what HPC-Jin looked like in, say, Hesekê.
I was in some contact with the youth movement but preferred to spend more time around the women’s movement. Many of the individuals were enthusiastic young people who were extremely genuine and dedicated to their beliefs, who I liked personally and enjoyed their company. However, I found some of the dogmatism and vanguardist approach to organizing opposed to my own preferences. I was much more at home in the womens’ movement, which is overall more open and dynamic. That being said, Jineology Ciwan [Young Women’s Jineology] was the most open and dynamic element of the youth, and was doing great educational and outreach work when I was there.
*tekmîl (said ‘tekmeel’) is a structured critique and self-critique process utilized in civil and military structures in Rojava as a way to reflect on exercises and actions
What were your observations or experiences of feminism on a day to day level?
Yikes, this is a big topic…as a female presenting person in women’s structures over there, I was around women most of the time. The rise of the women’s movement seemed to be the one of the largest changes in the region. When I asked people their feelings on the ‘Rojava revolution’ and other aspects of local politics, two things came up a lot. First, the change in living conditions for the Kurds. And secondly, the changes in the status and possibilities for women. I wasn’t there before, so I can’t speak too much to the changes that have happened. As I see things, the power of the women’s movement is putting some social force behind feminism, and helping these changes spread to the peripheries. For example, I was at a Jineology Ciwan camp. A lot of the young women were spending their first night away from home, ever, and a number of them had come from families that needed convincing to let them go.
The bulk of the work I was around was centered on feminism in some way – at times this manifested as women gaining the skills to be seen as equals as men, other times in education so women had knowledge and power about their own bodies. Sometimes gender/generational dynamics were more confrontational. For example, when I was there child brides were a controversial subject. The Self-Administration had a campaign against it, by building public awareness, some targeting of specific dressmakers that would sew dresses for child brides, and sheltering girls that ran away from their families. Girls would sometimes flee to YPJ or other structures with the aim of escaping an arranged marriage [or other reasons], which created a problem because YPJ couldn’t accept the child recruits. I met a few girls who were at YPJ-international learning English with hazy plans to possibly go to university later. I reencountered one of them a few months later and she had chosen to help in one of the camps for ISIS women and children. The girls I met seemed to be in a really good situation, but the possibility that girls will run away and join a structure in the Kurdish movement has led to families trying to marry off girls as a way to keep them from running away, sometimes at even younger ages than they would have before. When I was around there was a discussion of the pros and cons of making child marriage illegal; I believe at this time there hasn’t been a law passed forbidding it, since it’s believed that it would just continue in secret and the law would be ineffective.
Another big issue when I was there was health education. Most women haven’t had a basic know-your-body education, and young women often get false information about sex, pregnancy and similarly taboo issues. Jineology was teaching classes sharing basic information about anatomy, health and self-care.
There is some level of acknowledgment that feminism needs to become anti-patriarchy; that is, not just be a thing women talk about. Men need to confront their patriarchal behaviors, and do their own work in thinking about how internalized patriarchy has affected them. At this point, though, that’s not something that is happening in a systemic way.
If you had to take away lessons from what you observed in civil society in terms of revolutionary practices, what would they be? Or in other words, are there certain practices you think would be useful to adapt to organizing back home?
Well, the social context is wildly different from that of the US, so it’s hard to transfer things directly. The local politics of Northeastern Syria have had years to develop since the Rojava Revolution, so the problems and solutions develop out of that population. If anything, I saw the importance of knowing your local context.
One of the major things I was impressed with was the ability of people across different spectrums of life to engage in the political process. I have a number of friends who are in their late 20s or early 30s and still feel a desire to be politically active but don’t have the capacity to be involved in the standard ways. The Kurdish movement offers a lot of ways people can be involved. It’s easy to lend support financially, volunteer to house people, be involved in neighborhood self-governing structures, be educated for self defense, or make room for one’s children to do so. I wish we had this diversity of outlets for support, so my friends who are farmers, educators, social workers, parents, and so on felt like they could be meaningfully involved.
Did your political views shift at all due to your experiences?
I guess the biggest thing is that I’m more of an individualist now, in a way. I saw a bit of excess in the other direction coming from internationals, so I recognize the need for an element of individualism to uphold ideological diversity, creativity, and healthy group dynamics.
Are there any practices you experienced or saw that you think we should avoid or be wary of cultivating?
I view the projects going on in Northeastern Syria and Rojava as deserving our support and solidarity, much in the same way many people support Palestine. The ideology and political practice are very far from anarchism, but there are a lot of people from the region whose lives have been immeasurably improved by the lack of the Assad regime/ISIS.
The regional context is very different so a lot of my criticism has to do with specific things there, and don’t necessarily transfer easily to projects back home. So I have a lot of broad critiques linked to the system there, as I would any state-like structure, as well as more specific ones that would take a lot of time to explain their contexts.
From the defense of Kobane and Shengal to the establishment of the SDF and offensives on Raqqa and Deir-Ez-Zour, the character of the conflict in Rojava changed over the years. Do you think this influenced a shift in revolutionary work or outlook?
Yes. There’s a good interview on the Final Straw podcast with a Kurdish anarchist who discusses the change as the conflict there went from defensive to offensive. It’s worth listening to; I’ll link it at the bottom. That being said, I was there during Dera Zor. Other than the panic that took place about the Turkish invasion, which had a very negative effect since civil work was widely disrupted, I didn’t really see that much change. I’d imagine that now things are changing once again, with the rampant crop burning by ISIS and frequent bombings.
What do you see as the significance of having an anarchist structure in Rojava?
I believe in the importance of ideological diversity. Having structures that are ideologically different than the Kurdish movement is important in upholding this.
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Violent clashes between the Kurdish forces and the Turkey-backed factions in areas at Marea city north of Aleppo
Aleppo Province, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights: the Syrian Observatory monitored violent clashes with light and medium weapons; between the Kurdish forces who are positioned in the towns of Harbal and Sheikh Issa against the Turkey-loyal factions located southwest of Marea city in the northern countryside of Aleppo this evening, but no information about casualties.
The Syrian Observatory published yesterday that the Syrian Observatory monitored the renew of clashes in areas in Aleppo countryside, between the Turkey-loyal factions against the Kurdish Forces who are spread in the area, where the clashes were concentrated after midnight of yesterday in areas of Mar’anaz and Daghlabash in the northern and northeastern countryside of Aleppo, amid confirmed information about casualties in the ranks of both parties, and the Syrian Observatory published on the 20th of July 2019 that the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitored missile shelling carried out by the Turkish forces and their loyal factions, targeted areas controlled by the Kurdish Forces in Tal Rifaat and Its outskirts in the northern countryside of Aleppo, but no information about casualties, and the Syrian Observatory published on the 15th of July 2019 that the Turkish forces and pro-Government factions continue shelling areas controlled by the Kurdish forces north of Aleppo, where the Syrian Observatory monitored by pictures the continuation of shelling on places in Ain Daqneh, Menagh, outskirts of Tal Rifaat, Tal Madiq, and Jame’e Om al-Qura since this morning, while the Kurdish forces launched rocket shells on areas controlled by pro-Turkish factions north of Aleppo, and in the same context, the regime forces shelled Hayyan town by artillery shells in the same countryside, but no information yet casualties, and the Syrian Observatory published on the evening of yesterday that the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitored rocket shelling today evening, carried out by the Turkish forces targeting areas in the villages of Tal Madiq, Bailuniyyah and Sheikh Issa in the northern countryside of Aleppo province which is under the control of the Kurdish forces, without information about casualties, and the SOHR published on the 6th of July 2019, that violent clashes in the area of Maraanaz north of Aleppo, between the pro-Turkey factions against the Kurdish forces deployed in the area, amid exchange of shelling by mortar shells, and no information about casualties was reported so far, where these clashes come hours after targeting by the Turkish forces to the Kurdish forces-held positions, where the SOHR published on the 6th of July 2019, that the Turkish forces carried out rocket shelling on areas in Al-Malikiyah village which is under the control of the Kurdish forces in the northern countryside of Aleppo, without information about casualties so far.
And the Syrian Observatory published on the 2nd of July 2019 that the Syrian Observatory monitored artillery shelling carried out by the Turkish forces targeted areas in the villages of Mar’anaz and Malkiyyeh, which are controlled by YPG in the northern countryside of Aleppo, but no information about casualties. and the Syrian Observatory published on the 26th of June 2019 that at least one Turkish soldier was killed and more than 3 other soldiers were injured, as a result of rocket shelling carried out by the Kurdish Forces at the Turkish base in Kimar village near al-Basutah in the northern Countryside of Aleppo, followed by a sweep for the perimeter of the area by the Turkish forces with heavy machine guns, and the Syrian Observatory published on the 9th of June 2019 that the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights documented the death of a Turkish soldier and the injury of 7 others as a result of rocket shelling whose source is the Kurdish Units which targeted one of the posts of the Turkish army in the vicinity of Tel Rifaat city in the northern countryside of Aleppo, and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitored rocket shelling by the Turkish forces on areas where the Kurdish force are deployed in the areas of Tel Rifaat, Sheikh Issa and Menagh Military Airbase within the northern sector of Aleppo countryside, amid clashes took place between pro-Turkey factions against the Kurdish forces, in the area of Tways near Mare’ town north of Aleppo, and no information was reported so far.
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Lebanese writer Hanna Saleh said in an article published today in the newspaper al-Sharq Al-Awsat that the saying: “The Good Red Indian is the Red Indian Red” is a well-known saying. Golda Meir quoted her famous phrase: “The Good Palestinian is the Dead Palestinian.” Yitzhak Rabin, when he ordered the arrogance of the occupying Zionist army to break the ribs of the children of the stone revolution in occupied Palestine. But Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan outperformed everyone in targeting the Syrian Kurds, saying: “Either they are buried under the dust or accept humiliation!”
He added that the new Ottoman leader, Bassem Qasim Soleimani, who was exposing for the shedding of Syrian blood, seeking to re-establish his leadership over Syria and its people, not just the Kurds. He also revealed the Turkish targets, which were buried in Syria and at the expense of the Syrians, Under the pretext of maintaining Turkish national security, and in this particular situation, after the resounding defeat in Istanbul, seeks to achieve “achievement” on the way to achieve Turkish ambitions, and to distract the attention of its citizens, the introduction of new elements on the agenda of the concerns of the Turkish citizen.
Since the year 2016, after the light of the Russian green, was the process of «Shield Euphrates»; where the Turkish control of a large area of the north of Syria, from Jarablous to al-Bab and Azaz… Etc., Ankara begun, which highlighted in top priorities to divide the Kurdish region and dispersing the Kurds far away from its border, open old files, and talk about documents confirming its right to extend its control over 15 villages in the province of Aleppo bordering the border. It was clear by occupying Jarablous and Manbij two cities, where Turkey started Turkification policy and arbitrated the forces of «political Islam», and linked them to the Turkish administration functionally and financially and educationally, adopting the Turkish curriculum, replaced the Turkish language instead of the French
“After the Operation Olive Branch in 2018, the tightening of control over Afrin, and the beginning of a demographic change by displacing some 150,000 of its Kurdish people in particular, and settling displacement people from al-Ghouta instead of the indigenous people, who are supporting of the Turkish army’s factions, Erdogan declared that «Turkish national security requires control over large parts of all areas of Syria – Iraq adjacent to Turkey»! After giving the path of Astana to Turkey the upper hand in the province of Idlib, which was classified as “De-escalation”, Ankara began to build a concrete wall that simulates the Zionist wall in occupied Palestine, to isolate Afrin from the geographical perimeter, to link more with Turkey, and threatened to extend its military operations to include Manbij and east of the Euphrates to Ain Arab – Kobani, Tel-Abyed and Ras al-Ain, and up to Qamishli, and the stated goal to remove the Kurds.
“Turkey has put its hand on the Syrian food basket, and in the manner of the Iranian settlement occupation, it has pushed to make demographic changes, and the operations of Turkification have expanded in the Kurdish areas. Afrin has become without its inhabitants. The movement of any Syrian citizen in the areas of the Turkish occupation requires permission from the Turkish ruler in Kalis or with the American decision to withdraw from the east of the Euphrates, the Turkish ambitions moved to crush the Kurdish movement under the pretext of protecting Turkey’s national security and the longer-term objective of putting the Turkish hand on Syria’s oil, gas and water so that Ankara would have the lion’s share in any settlement of the issue. Syria, which is coming inevitably settlement, and this era unfold dictatorial regime, which recorded an unprecedented event not seen once any country in the world, eradicating his people and the deportation of about half of the Syrians from their homes, and to facilitate the naturalization and resettlement the people.
The truth is that no one has discussed how a country can impose its imperial ambitions on another country, by insisting on the creation of a large pocket that it controls in a neighboring country.” The Turkish presidency has put its ambitions on the Russians and the Americans, despite different interests and Russian and American perspectives, the outcome is similar.
Moscow withdrew from Adana Agreement of 1998, which gives Turkey the right to hunt down elements of the “PKK” about 5 kilometers in Syrian territory, provided political normalization with the Syrian regime, according to the text of the Convention. In fact, there is today a security normalization between Ankara and Damascus. Turkey has not found its way to Russia, which seeks to draw the boundaries of the roles and influence of its partners in the Astana process, despite Russian concerns over the US-Turkish dialogues. Since then Ankara has been negotiating with the Americans, and the Turkish address is to control a 30-35 km deep area east of the Euphrates, about one-third of the area of this region, to exceed Turkish control of 20 per cent of the total Syrian territory, and that the “Syrian Democratic Forces” should be removed after the dismantling of the backbone of these forces «People’s Protection Units», the Kurdish power sought by Ankara
The Turkish response was not delayed, said Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu: «US proposals on the buffer zone is not satisfactory to Turkey», threatening that «the patience of his country ran out»! But the striking part of Erdogan’s positions, recalling some of the Nazis’ ideas in 1939, when Hitler blew up the borders of neighboring Germany, the Turkish president declared that his country would “bury under the dust those who seek to create a terrorist corridor on its borders, regardless of the outcome of the talks with the Americans”! And began to alert on both sides of the border and finger on the trigger!
In the last 20 summit, President Trump said: “Erdogan wants to eradicate the Kurds, and asked him not to do (…). Imagine, some 75 years after the end of Nazism, and after 70 years of Zionist terrorism, which did not achieve security for Israel, there is a president of state did not care and facilitate the game of blood!
(T/S)
ANHA
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British revolutionaries in Syria say they will defy Home Office’s new terrorism laws
A group of self-styled British revolutionaries who travelled to Syria to help build a democratic society in the Kurdish north say they will defy new Government legislation which would see them prosecuted on terrorism charges.
The Home Office revealed in May that it planned to designate northern Syria a “no-go area” and that British citizens would have 28 days to leave or face a 10-year prison sentence if they attempt to return to the UK.
It said the law was aimed at tackling terrorism, but the volunteers accuse the Government of failing to distinguish between Britons in the jihadist enclave of Idlib, in Syria’s northwest, and those working in the northeast alongside Kurdish groups that helped defeat Islamic State (Isil).
The law would mean just travelling to or remaining in the northeast would be considered a terrorist act, despite the UK partnering with the Kurds in the coalition against the jihadist group.
Dozens of Britons have been drawn to the autonomous region, known as Rojava: some to fight with the People’s Protection Units (YPG and YPJ) against Isil, while others were attracted by their Marxist-inspired democratic, feminist, anti-capitalist project.
More than 10 Britons are currently undertaking voluntary work on ecological and community projects as well as medical and media outreach.
The Telegraph last month spoke to three of them in the town of Derik on the border with Iraq, where they said they should not be criminalised simply for travelling to a warzone.
“On the one hand, (the Home Office) talks about the UK’s need for international co-operation with the Kurds in fighting terrorism. And on the other, it is punishing those of us who come here to do just that,” said Matt Broomfield, 25, from Shropshire, who left the UK more than a year ago after working in media.
Mr Broomfield has supported local media projects to help get news from the region out to an international audience, as well as writing articles for the British press.
“It’s a ham-fisted attempt to prosecute jihadists under a catch-all law after previous laws proved inadequate,” said Mr Broomfield, referring to the fact that only one in 10 returning Isil fighters have been prosecuted upon return to the UK.
The legislation was announced by new Home Secretary Priti Patel’s predecessor Sajid Javid, but, the Telegraph understands, she will support it.
It is not clear when the 28-day grace period will begin, but it will mark the first use of new powers given to the home secretary in the Counter-Terrorism and Border Security Act, which became law in February.
“I won’t be leaving, regardless of the Government’s draconian actions, as I consider their threats toward those in northeast Syria illegitimate and worthy of resistance,” Mr Broomfield told the Telegraph.
“Yes of course we’re very worried – less for ourselves than for what this means for northeast Syria’s status in the future and the future of international solidarity with Rojava.”
The Kurds have forged something of a proto-state under the cover of the Syrian civil war, inspired by the revolutionary socialism of Abdullah Ocalan, a Kurdish leader jailed in Turkey whose group is branded a terrorist organisation by the US.
However, their experiment in self-rule has faced threats from Turkey to the north and Syrian government forces to the west and south, as well as a more immediate threat from Isil sleeper cells hiding among them.
Some have accused the volunteers of adventurism and naivety, accusations those here dismiss.
“I’m not just here trying to get arrested, I want to be part of important revolutionary change,” said Theo Stevens, 29, who has been volunteering at the Internationalist Commune of Rojava, a civil society organisation, since arriving in the country five months ago. “Isil may have been defeated territorially, but there’s a lot more work that needs doing than fighting.
“When I heard about the new law I thought about it for 30 seconds before deciding I couldn’t just abandon all we’ve done here,” Miss Stevens, who had been involved in Bristol’s anarchist and Leftist movements before moving to Syria, said, using a pseudonym.
She said her family has a history of participating in revolutionary struggles. Her great-uncle fought in the Spanish Civil War and went on to write the well-known memoir, A Shallow Grave.
“My mum isn’t too worried about the new law, she trusts my decision. She met others in the community at Anna’s memorial and got to see how strong it is,” she adds, referring to Anna Campbell, from East Sussex, who was killed during the Kurds’ battle against the Turkish army and Turkey-backed rebel forces in the northern Syrian city of Afrin last year.
Anna had been a friend of Miss Stevens’ back home, who had encouraged her to come to Rojava before she died.
Eight Britons died fighting in Syria alongside the Kurdish YPG, including Anna, and Jac Holmes from Dorset, who stepped on a mine the day after helping liberate Isil’s “capital” Raqqa.
Another volunteer, Lizzie Irvine, from southeast Scotland, said she thought the Home Office’s decision would discourage other Britons from joining them, which she said was a “shame”.
Miss Irvine, 30, has been working in an all-female commune housing widows and Yazidis rescued from Isil for the last six months.
“Something beautiful is growing in an ugly part of the world and I feel a duty to help that flourish,” she said. “Britain shouldn’t be criminalising people like us.”
Mr Broomfield said the volunteers were planning to raise their concerns in Parliament via an Early Day Motion. However, he said he was also prepared to fight his case in court should the Government decide to prosecute him.
“The Britons who joined the Kurds went to fight Isil under the RAF in a coalition of which the UK was a part,” Labour MP Lloyd Russell Moyle, who visited Rojava last year, told the Telegraph. “Those still with the Kurds are participating in pluralistic, democratic and feminist social revolution in the heart of a region gripped by authoritarianism and sectarianism.
“This is a lazy law that will cause more harm than good. Locking up returning NGO workers and volunteers is absurd, antithetical to our values and a blow to development in the Middle East.”
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Building Autonomy Through Ecology in Rojava
This article first appeared on Unicorn Riot, 28 February, 2018.
Rojava – After almost seven years since the war in Syria began, battles between Kurdish-led democratic forces (SDF/YPG/YPJ) and Daesh (IS) have left the Islamic State nearly defeated throghout the region. When Rojava was liberated from direct Syrian government control in summer 2012, this set off a political revolution towards a self-organized democratic society across the northern regions of the country. On March 17th, 2016, 151 delegates from various northern regions of the Syrian state, including Rojava, proclaimed autonomy through the creation of the ‘Federation of Northern Syria–Rojava’. In recent weeks, NATO member state Turkey has attacked the Kurdish-controlled Afrin Canton (and the city named after the region) in an attempt to crush the growing revolution. Meanwhile, to the east, revolutionary forces throughout Rojava continue building an autonomous democratic society.
“With this war, the fascist Turkish state wants to break the revolution in Rojava because it can not live next to a society that builds on women’s liberation, real democracy and an ecological and communal economy.” – Internationalist Commune of Rojava
Before years of war devastated northern Syria, decades of capitalist exploitation by the Syrian state created the ecological disaster the people of Rojava face today. Through wheat monoculture, oil extraction, and neglect of waste management planning, the Syrian state has left the region with growing ecological problems. Simultaneously, the Turkish government has been expanding dam projects along rivers running south into northern Syria for decades, turning rivers into dust and making it harder for people to grow food and be self-sustainable. Turkey also built massive walls along its border, carving miles of scars through the region’s ancient forests. After decades of destructive colonial policies and war, the Internationalist Commune of Rojava, in cooperation with the Ecology Committee of the Cizire Canton, has begun taking direct action to protect the region’s autonomy. Out of the rubble of war-torn cities, the people of Rojava launched an ecological campaign to develop solutions to these problems and, as their campaign slogan proclaims, “Make Rojava Green Again”.
The ecological campaign is addressing issues related to cultivation of food, reforesting large swaths of land, providing alternative forms of electricity, limiting fossil fuel usage, preserving the water supply, and even developing waste management solutions. Many of the local committee members are young adults who consider themselves responsible for building a more just social and economic system that functions in balance with the natural world. The women’s liberation movement in Rojava also plays an important role in operating ecological pilot projects, such as agricultural cooperatives. The Internationalist Commune is made up of individuals from around the world who have traveled to Rojava to support the revolution with their expertise, ideas, and labor. Internationals organizing with local communities in Rojava are working to support ecological projects, expand awareness, and build a healthy future across the region. The campaign is still very new and much work still lies ahead.
Developing urban agriculture is one tier in the ecological campaign to expand food security and autonomy in Rojava. Monocultures, the act of growing a single crop, has long been common policy supported by the Assad government, which has controlled Syria since 1971. Decades of monoculture resulted in the loss of ecological diversity across the region, and the use of artificially supplied water and chemical fertilizers has degraded the soil and made cultivation of food impossible in some areas. In Afrin, for example, the regime cut down ancient forests to grow monocultures of olive trees, degrading topsoil. The Internationalist Commune plans to create rooftop gardens and plant on undeveloped land within cities, which will further decentralize agriculture across Rojava. The return to traditional organic fertilizer-based agriculture is also a solution being put into practice by the Internationalist Commune.
“A person alienated from nature is alienated from and is destroying himself, and no system has shown this connection more clearly than capitalist modernity.” – Internationalist Commune of Rojava
Over the last few decades, many wildlife and plant species in the region have been displaced by deforestation and monoculture practices. Many wolves, foxes, wild pigs, and birds found refuge in the Hayaka forest, one of the last forests near Derik in Cizire. In 2014, the democratic self-administration of Rojava declared the Hayaka forest a natural reserve in order to preserve the biodiversity of the region. Hunting, fishing, construction of buildings, and agriculture are prohibited within the reserve. Since then, the development of non-profit cooperative tree nurseries has become an essential part of the ecological strategy to maintain autonomy in Rojava. Through the tree cooperative, internationalists will contribute their labor into reforesting Hayaka by planting 100,000 trees throughout the reserve, which will also improve local air quality. In the Spring of 2018, the Internationalist Commune will also plant 50,000 shoots of fruit trees that will produce pomegranate, grapes, pistachios, apricots, cherries, apples, pears, and olives. The commune will also plant wheat and cotton on the plains, establish beekeeping, and plant a variety of herbs accessible for medical research and use.
Lack of access to clean water, and conflict over water sources, represent major factors in growing crises around the world. In Rojava, access to sustainable sources of water is yet another ecological issue the Internationalist Commune is working to overcome. The supply of clean drinking water mostly comes from springs and lakes. Climate change has contributed to the problem by shortening the rainy season across the region, which has decreased the amount of rainfall and significantly lowered groundwater levels. In the last two decades alone, precipitation in some areas has dropped 10-15%. Today, wells must be dug an estimated 50 meters deeper to access clean water. At the same time, Turkey has built dams upstream along the Euphrates and Xabur tributary, actively restricting the flow of water south into Rojava. In regions held by the Islamic State, Daesh has further compounded the problem of water scarcity by blocking off access to springs and wells. This lack of water has contributed to soil erosion and the dying off of once-thriving forests along river banks and lakes. Some of the remaining sources of water have also been left heavily contaminated after years of war across the region.
Across the region, access to water for drinking and agriculture has been slowly reduced for decades, due to monoculture and the building of dams. In an effort to promote sustainable use of water for growing crops, the Agricultural Protection Committee has registered all water wells and prohibited further expansion of wells for agriculture. In addition, the committee has limited the planting of crops requiring irrigation to 60%. Plans have also been implemented to begin using greywater (water from showers, the kitchen, etc) and blackwater (from toilets) for organic fertilization of agriculture. Human waste is the largest source of nutrients available to improve the soil and increase agriculture from organic waste across the region (after long composting). Much of the research, and technical implementation, for various uses of recycled water are ongoing at the International Academy.
Like most places around the world today, Rojava is still dependent on fossil fuels to drive vehicles, transport goods, and generate heat within stoves. Burning gasoline and diesel is the main source of air pollution in the region, especially in larger cities. The Internationalist Commune is currently developing plans to expand public transportation as a method to minimize this impact on the health of locals and environment. In addition, the ecological campaign is planting trees by thousands to help improve urban air quality.
“Instead of tackling the cause of the destruction of nature, capitalism itself, the symptoms are treated instead.” – Internationalist Commune of Rojava
The supply of electrical power to many regions of Rojava is a primary hurdle in sustaining autonomous self-governance. Rojava currently derives electricity from three primary sources: hydro-electric power plants, natural gas, and diesel generators. Much of the electrical infrastructure, such as power lines and substations, has been destroyed after years of war across the region. Currently, the Internationalist Commune, with strong support from the Ministry of Energy, is developing plans to create a more decentralized and sustainable infrastructure. Currently, the development of the first wind power pilot project in Rojava has begun, which will serve as a working example for communities throughout the region. Volunteers are also working to create decentralized solar solutions, using photovoltaic technology, which will provide alternative sources of power and water heating systems.
The Internationalist Commune believes this will reduce community dependency on both centralized electricity grids and fossil fuels. The Internationalist Commune in Rojava is simultaneously moving forward on plans for managing organic (food, paper, etc) and non-organic waste (plastic, metal, etc). Methods are being developed to sort, separate, and store all types of waste instead of burning or burying the waste, which causes air pollution and contamination of ground water. Organic waste is cleaned and stored for composting, and plans are underway to recycle all non-organic waste. Hazardous waste is stored far away from water sources to avoid contamination.
“The connections between the market economy, exploitation, destruction of nature, war and migration show what the result is when centralist and hierarchical systems try to subjugate nature” – Internationalist Commune of Rojava
Such a massive ecological overhaul within Rojava will not be accomplished overnight. One essential pillar in maintaining self-governance throughout the region is community education. Success for an ecological revolution in Rojava will come from sharing concrete experiences and skills at all levels of society. The Internationalist Academy will be the center of this effort and will train individuals in the principles of self-organization, women’s liberation, ecology, language, and culture. Students at the academy will participate in lectures and discussions at youth centers, municipalities, schools, and other institutions, to further develop what an ecological society in Rojava can look like and how to build it. International volunteers skilled in sanitation, renewable energy, mechanical and electrical engineering, and even physicists, chemists, and biologists continue to travel to Rojava to assist the construction of an autonomous ecological society. The academy hopes to build awareness throughout the region to “overcome the ecological and social crisis” which they see is “brought about by capitalist modernity”, and promotes the destruction of nature and humanity.
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KCK: All humanity should embrace the Rojava Revolution
“Rojava Revolution and the martyrs of North Syrian peoples will be the essence of the Middle East’s democratic revolution, and the Middle Eastern peoples’ struggle for a free and democratic existence will definitively succeed.”
The Executive Council Co-presidency of Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) released a statement marking the 7th anniversary of the Rojava Revolution.
KCK vowed that they as the Kurdish Freedom Movement will always claim and stand by the Rojava revolution that has been achieved through Leader Apo’s (Abdullah Öcalan’s) paradigm for women’s liberation and a democratic ecological society.
The statement by KCK Executive Council Co-presidency said the following;
“We are entering the 8th year of the Rojava Revolution that initiated a democratization process for the peoples of the Middle East. We congratulate the people of Rojava (West) Kurdistan that have realized this revolution, we remember with gratitude and respect the martyrs who played the main role in the realization and defense of this revolution, and wish the veterans success in their future life.
With the 19 July 2012 revolution they realized in Rojava, the Kurdish people have proved to be the leading revolutionary democratic folk of the Middle East. The Rojava revolution becoming a Syrian and the Middle Eastern revolution with the participation of all Syrian peoples -Arabs and Syriacs being in the first place- has created a hope for all peoples. Achieving the fraternity of peoples and beliefs in the Middle East, that had long been made into enemies against one another, has been a mental revolution. Thus, Leader Apo has been proven to be the revolutionary leader of not only the Kurdish people but of all the Middle Eastern peoples.
The democratic autonomous system that has been built through the democratic collective organization of peoples in Northeast Syria, has become a model serving the democratization of the Middle East. As a democratic nation, Arabs, Kurds, Syriacs, Armenians, Durzis, Chechens and Turkmens have defeated ISIS and al-Nusra that have been backed by the AKP-MHP fascist government. The defeat of ISIS through the power of democratic nation and democratic society has shown how a free and democratic way of living could be achieved through a social and political system. In this way, the peoples have seen the way to overcome the deadlock and agony experienced in the Middle East.
By defeating ISIS, the peoples of Northeast Syria have not only defeated a despotic force in the Middle East, but they also neutralized a proxy organization that bears animosity against all of humanity. As a result of the attacks by the forces hostile to democracy and freedom during the past 7 years, the peoples of North Syria have given over 10 thousand martyrs and more than 20 thousand veterans. The martyrdom of hundreds of internationalist democratic revolutionaries from all around the world -socialists being in the first place- has shaped the character of this revolution. The democratic revolution of northern Syrian peoples has at the same time become the democratic revolution of all peoples on the world. This reality manifests the fact that this revolution possesses an invincible spirit.
The success of northern Syrian peoples’ democratic revolution is the success of the experience created by the democratic revolution led by the Kurds and Middle Eastern peoples for dozens of years. Its permanence shall be achieved by the democratic revolution power of all the Kurdish people and Middle Eastern peoples. Without a doubt, the democratic revolution in northern Syria has exposed the fact that freedom shall be achieved not through peoples’ struggle aiming to found a state, but through a democratic confederal structuring that is based on the fraternity of peoples. The comprehension of the fact that founding a state and a centralist statist mentality would not bring freedom and democracy for peoples, has also been a great gain for the peoples of the Middle East. The power of the autonomous system established by northern Syrian peoples, and its ability to counter any and all attacks, takes its source from this mindset and structuring. From this point of view, it is vital to deepen the democratic revolution in northern Syria by basing on an organized and democratic society.
The democratic autonomous system founded by the peoples in north-eastern Syria is an oasis of freedom and democracy for all the Middle Eastern peoples, it is the breath of peace and fraternity. In this respect, Arabs, Turks, Persians, Azeris, Armenians, Syriacs and all peoples, and all faiths, should protect this oasis of freedom as an attack against it would be an attack against all peoples’ desire for freedom and democracy.
This revolution should be claimed by not only the peoples and democratic forces in the Middle East, but by all democratic forces all around the world. Solidarity should be shown with this revolution against any kind of attack.
As the Kurdish Freedom Movement, we will always claim and stand by the Rojava revolution that has been achieved through Leader Apo’s paradigm for women’s liberation and a democratic ecological society. Our people in all parts of Kurdistan should also embrace this revolution and turn the prices paid and misery suffered by the Kurdish people for a hundred years into a joy of free and democratic living.
Rojava Revolution and the martyrs of North Syrian peoples will be the essence of the Middle East’s democratic revolution, and the Middle Eastern peoples’ struggle for a free and democratic existence will definitively succeed.”
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SDF Commander: If Turkey attacks, a great war will break out
SDF Commander General Mazlum Ebdi said, “If the Turkish army attacks anywhere, it will turn into a great war.”
Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) Commander General Mazlum Ebdi spoke to Yeni Özgur Politika newspaper and said, “If the Turkish army attacks anywhere, it will turn into a great war. We have let everybody know. Turkey knows this, so do the US and France.”
Ebdi mentioned the July 19 Revolution and said: “From now on, we will be working to protect this path, complete the construction process and to achieve a democratic solution based on equal rights among peoples within the unity of Syria.”
THE SITUATION AT THE BORDER
Ebdi spoke about the border line: “Turkey has stockpiled a significant amount of forces and weapons at the border. And I will add this, so have we. Tensions are high. This allows for provocations. Any mistake can spark a flame.”
When asked whether they were expecting any attacks, Ebdi said:
“Eastern Euphrates and Afrin are not similar. These are two separate areas. It is not possible to repeat here what happened in Afrin. We won’t let that.
We made a strategic decision during the Afrin process. We didn’t want this war to spread. We wanted to keep the Afrin battle contained in Afrin, and it was contained. For us, Eastern Euphrates will not be like that. If the Turkish army attacks anywhere, it will turn into a great war.”
“IF WE ARE ATTACKED”
Ebdi clarified his “great war” comments:
“For instance, if Turkey attacks Gire Spi, the battle front will be from Derik to Manbij. This is our decision. We have let everybody know. Turkey knows this, so do the US and France. If there is an attack against us, the 600 km border will turn into a battlefront. That would mean a second civil war period in Syria.
Turkey’s strategy is to come take Gire Spi and Kobane, then stop. But if there are any attacks, the war will continue until Turkey withdraws.”
THE US’ STANCE
SDF Commander General spoke about the US’ stance on the matter:
“We have an alliance with the US to fight against ISIS, which currently happens in Deir ez-Zor and Raqqa areas. If Turkey attacks us, YPG forces within the SDF will withdraw. Then, the fight against ISIS will stop. In fact, ISIS would recuperate. If we leave, the regime will enter the area to fill the void. Our joint efforts with the US and the coalition will be damaged.
The US does not want that. There are 73 states in the coalition. None of them want to see this cooperation fail. This is an international matter. As such, there is serious pressure on Turkey. This was not the case for Afrin.
The US’s position to avoid a war is positive. There are ongoing diplomatic efforts, they are pressuring Turkey to prevent an uncontrollable war. The US Secretary of Defense, Chief of Staff, Secretary of State have all spoken with their counterparts in Turkey.
It is not a matter of trust, that is the US’s problem. We have determined our stance and made our preparations. We will fight. Eastern Euphrates won’t be like Afrin.”
BUFFER ZONE
Ebdi spoke about the discussions on a buffer zone:
“In 2018 Erdogan said they finalized the preparations and would launch an operation to the east of the Euphrates. In 7 years, there have been no attacks against Turkey from our side. Our very presence is what they have a problem with. Look, we have been at war for the last 7 years. We don’t want a new, huge war. If there is war, it will be big. There won’t be a truce. We asked our allies to go discuss the matter. We asked US Special Envoy James Jeffrey to mediate. He said he would be happy to. That was how the process started. At first this wasn’t a project. We stated that we would not attack, that there was no threat from us. In the end the process continued.
Erdogan and Trump had a phone call where the Safe Zone project emerged. We as the SDF prepared our own proposal and submitted it to the US. Our project was very reasonable.
“LOCAL FORCES SHOULD GOVERN”
This is an issue of borders. Turkey wants a 30 km deep safe zone. We argue it could be 5 km deep. We accept a 5 km deep safe zone. We could withdraw the YPG forces from that area. We would have local forces to take their place.”
Ebdi said by local forces he means people from Kobane, Serekaniye, Qamishlo and Gire Spi: “We could also remove heavy weapons and weapons with a range to reach Turkey from this 5 km area. Some of our weapons have a 20 km range. We can pull these out of range as well. If these are ‘threats’, we are willing to remove that threat. Turkey says outsiders are governing the area. So we say, alright, let’s have locals govern. That would solve the issue.”
“A NEUTRAL FORCE SHOULD PATROL”
SDF Commander General said Turkey must commit to not attack: “We want an international force to patrol the area. It could be the Coalition or another force. Turkey is not neutral, we want a neutral force.”
“THEY MUST LEAVE AFRIN”
“We have accepted Turkish soldiers to be part of the patrols for now, on condition,” said Ebdi: “We want all people of Afrin, without exceptions, to return to their lands. Their gangs must leave Afrin. The confiscated goods and property must be returned to the people of Afrin. People brought from elsewhere to be settled in Afrin must be removed. All these must happen under guarantee of international powers, and control of the Council of Afrin. If this happens, as a gesture of good will Turkish soldiers could be part of the patrols.”
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Social media campaign to celebrate the Rojava Revolution
To celebrate the 7th anniversary of The Rojava Revolution, the global RISEUP FOR ROJAVA network called for a social media campaign on 19 July.
In a few days is 19 July. It will be the 7th anniversary of the Rojava Revolution.
To draw attention to this historic day, the global RISEUP FOR ROJAVA network call for a social media campaign to celebrate 19 July and the Revolution.
The Riseup for Rojava in a statement invites people around the world to “share your congratulations with the people of Rojava via video & image and make clear what the Rojava Revolution means to you and why it has to be defended.”
The appointment is on 19 July at 6 CEST. The hashtags will be #pirozbe and #riseup4rojava and the messages will be posted on Twitter & Facebook.
The stament recalls that “on 19 July 2012, the revolution started in Kobane and quickly spread to the Kurdish cities of Afrin, Qamishlo and Derik.
Seven years in which history was written. Seven years in which the lives of millions of people change radically. Seven years in which hundreds of thousands of women have organized and liberated themselves, thousands of communes and innumerable cooperatives have been founded.”
The statement added: “What began then in Kobane has become a major struggle against the fascism of our time and for the liberation of women and society. The division policy of the Syrian regime has been overcome. Today, 80% of YPG and YPJ fighters are Arabs. Hundreds of thousands of Kurdish, Arab, Assyrian and Turkmen children learn their mother tongue, a new historiography and Jineoloji, the science from the point of view of women. The children of the revolution are a living symbol of this new life. Freedom has burned itself into the collective memory of society.”
The statement continued: “The revolution is still full of contradictions and energy. Seven years in which the societies of Kurdistan, northern and eastern Syria did rise up and progressed day by day.
Seven years in which a heavy war raged and Rojava was attacked by all sides. Seven years in which resistance has been present every second and moment. The war began in September 2012 as gangs of Al-Nusra attacked the city of Serikaniye, followed by the attack by DAESH on Kobane, the last minute defense of the attack and the complete liberation of Kobane was the beginning of the end of the so-called caliphate. DAESH has found its end in Kobane’s resistance. With the resistance of Kobane, Rojava has become a symbol of hope worldwide.”
The statement added: “Kobane, Gire Spî, Til Temir, Til Hamis, Heseke, Al Hol, Minbic, Shaddadi, Tabbqa, Raqqa, Deir-a Zor, Afrin. The People’s and Women’s Defense Units (YPG / YPJ) and the democratic forces of Syria have defended free life over the past six years, freeing millions of people from the IS’s slavery and defending them against Turkish fascism.”
Riseup For Rojava continude: “On 19 March this year, ISIS was finally defeated in Baghouz. In the fight against the last positions of ISIS Revolutionary and Italian internationalist Lorenzo Orsetti (Tekoşer Piling) fell on the penultimate day of the operation. A painful death so close to the military end of the ISIS in north Eastern Syria. Lorenzo reminds us of hundreds, of thousands of revolutionaries who have fallen in the fight for the free life in the fight against the ISIS and the fascist NATO state Turkey. We are remembering every single fallen, remembering the days together, dances, discussions, difficulties and successes.”
“Can there be a more meaningful life?”
The statement ends by remembering all the martyrs of the Revolution. “The fallen are the value of this revolution. The fallen have made the revolution what it is today. Without them, there would be no more revolution, without them we would have nothing to celebrate on the 19 of July. They have made history with their determined attitude toward the universal values of socialism and their love for freedom and humanity! Lorenzo, Ivana Hoffmann, Anna Cambell, Legerin Ciya, Dilsoz Bahar and many other internationalists have become part of this story with their self-sacrifice. And it is our heritage to continue writing this story and to expand and defend the revolution.”
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French researcher: Liberated areas from IS must be recognized by international society
The French writer and researcher of political philosophy Patrice Franshiski explained that the world must go from political to human rights. He said: “The fundamental task of the international community at this stage is the political recognition and then the rights of the Autonomous Administration in the liberated areas form Daesh grip.”
POLITICS 09 Jul 2019, Tue – 10:35 2019-07-09T10:35:00 QAMISHLO- MURADA KINDA
The International Forum on Daesh was held in Bilsan Hall in Amouda district belonging to Qamishlo canton, with attendance hundreds of personalities to discuss the trial of Daesh mercenaries.
One of the participants in the forum is the French writer and political philosophy researcher Patrice Franshiski spoke to our agency, Hawar news agency (ANHA), talked about the subject of Daesh trial. He said: “Daesh was defeated in the area and must be tried.
Daesh trial must be the issue of the world and humanity’
Patrice Franshisk explained that the establishment of the Forum in this way to define the region is very important and said: “The forum discussed the status of the region in terms of geopolitical and in general, we must find a solution to Daesh problem, with attendance of prominent figures and foreign to this forum shows that the trial of Daesh is not a subject limited to SDF or the region only, but is it tied to all the world and humanity as a whole.”
He said that Daesh should be prosecuted in north and east of Syria and said: “Daesh was defeated in this region, and committed massacres and crimes against humanity in this region, all the documents and evidence of human rights violations exist here.”
Turkey, Iran and the Syrian regime are supporting Daesh mercenaries’ cells
Franshisk pointed out if Daesh defeated militarily that does not mean elimination in full, Deash mercenaries’ cells and its ideology still remain, and in order to strike at security and stability in the region, the Turkish and Iranian governments and the Syrian regime continue to support these cells, to be eradicated these cells, a new kind of struggle must be found, because the problem of this region is not only to find a solution to the trial of Daesh detainees ,but there is a danger of Turkish schemes and the Syrian regime also on this region, so must focus on the political and legal stage.
And concluded his speech saying “Even the violations committed in Afrin must be transferred to international courts and held accountable.”
ANHA
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600 civilians kidnapped in Afrin in one week
The Turkish state and its mercenary allies have kidnapped over 300 civilians in the occupied city of Afrin. The number of kidnapped civilians in the past week has reached 600.
- ANF
- NEWS DESK
- Thursday, 4 Jul 2019, 09:47
According to the information received, Turkish soldiers and their mercenary allies have kidnapped over 300 civilians in the city in the last two days.
The invaders demand ransom from the families for the release of the kidnapped civilians.
At the beginning of July, at least 10 civilians were kidnapped in the Mabata district, while four civilians were reportedly abducted in the village of Gulikê the same day.
On 29 June it was reported that the occupiers have raided houses in the province of Mabeta. In these raids alone local sources reported that some 300 civilians, including children and women, were kidnapped.
Afrin is under the occupation of the Turkish state and its mercenary allies. The attacks against the city and region began on 20 January 2018 and the invasion of the city by land was carried out on 18 March.
Since the invasion, war crimes have been systematically committed in the region. The demographic structure of the region is being changed and crimes such as seizure of local people’s properties, kidnapping of civilians for ransom, torture or executions have been going on on a daily basis.
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Qamishlo Military Council founded
Military forces announced the establishment of a Military Council in Qamishlo
ANF
Qamishlo Military Forces declared the establishment of Qamishlo Military Council during a ceremony held in Martyr Delil Saruxan Cemetery of Martyrs.
The ceremony was attended by members of the Martyrs’ Families Institution, Military Forces, Autonomous Administration representatives, notables and civilian population.
Speaking here, Qamishlo Military Council Co-president Piling Qamişlo pointed out that the fight against ISIS has reached a new phase following the military defeat of the terrorist organization. Piling Qamişlo said that Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have entered a new period of organization in such an important process.
Speaking about the duties of regional military councils, Piling Qamişlo stated that the basic mission of the councils was to protect the region against terrorist elements, to help the people and ensure their security.
Speaking after, Qamishlo Canton Co-president Talat Yunus wished the fighters success and expressed his belief that the achievements of the people would be protected in line with the promises they had made to the people and to the martyrs.
Noting that they aim for a democratic Syria, Yunus underlined the need for military councils to maintain the security of the region.
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Al-Taqba Military Council formed
Military forces in al-Tabqa area announced at a ceremony the formation of its military council, “Al-Taqba Military Council.”
Dozens of military and security leaders attended the ceremony, elders and dignitaries from the region, the Democratic Civil Administration of al-Tabqa, the families of the martyrs as well as leaders of the International Coalition.
After standing for a minute of silence, the leader of Al-Tabqa Military Council Mohammed Raouf welcomed the attendees, pointing out the importance of forming the military council lies in uniting the ranks and opinions in facing the challenges and protect the borders and peoples from any threat to them until reaching a political solution in the region, especially after the military defeat by the Syrian Democratic Forces over Daesh.
Among the objectives of the council is to involve local leaders in the decision-making mechanism more effectively, activating the role of women through the offices representing the Women’s Protection Units, which had the most prominent role in liberating the region from the abomination of mercenaries, in addition to activating the institutional work within the council.
ANHA
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Rojava perestroika: Is the PYD really lifting its ban on political rivals?
By Rudaw 6/1/2019
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Following US President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw the 2,000 US troops currently stationed in northern Syria (Rojava), the Democratic Union Party (PYD)-led administration has said it will lift its ban on rival parties in the interests of Kurdish unity.
However, the Syrian Kurdish National Council (ENKS), which is backed by the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), is not convinced the PYD is genuinely opening up the Rojava administration.
Nouri Brimo, an ENKS spokesman, told KDP media that Saturday’s announcement by the PYD is “baseless” as the party “does not believe in political coexistence.”
The PYD and ENKS have long been fierce rivals.
“The PYD does not have faith in political life outside their ideology and 56 of our offices are closed in Western Kurdistan (Rojava) as per their decree,” Brimo said.
“Whenever the PYD starts believing in political coexistence and allowing Peshmerga to enter Western Kurdistan, then it will issues such a decree,” he added.
ENKS will only take the PYD’s statement seriously when the Rojava administration releases its political prisoners, “because hundreds of cadres and members of the ENKS leadership are in the PYD’s prisons,” Brimo said.
The Rojava administration released a statement on Saturday saying it will lift the ban on unregistered political parties in response to calls from the Kurdish National Council (KNC or KNK) – a pro-Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) group.
“The KNK has an initiative to form unity in Rojava because everyone knows that today is an historic and sensitive situation. Kurds are fighting for their existence. All Kurdish parties have to reach a consensus on all current internal and foreign issues. The KNK has requested our support for the initiative by lifting the ban on illegal parties as a goodwill gesture in order to realise the initiative,” the Rojava’s administration’s legal team said in its statement.
Jadan Ali, head of the ENKS office in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, welcomed the decision but expressed regret over the poor condition of ENKS-PYD relations.
“They have put us in a condition where Kurdish people do not have faith in our agreements [with the PYD]. They are the ruling party, therefore they have to return trust,” he said, adding that a decision is “useless as long as prisoners are not released.”
An ENKS delegation has arrived in the Kurdistan Region to meet with KDP leader Masoud Barzani to discuss the latest development in Syria and Rojava.
The enclave has entered a new period of uncertainty since Trump declared he intends to withdraw US forces, which have been assisting the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in the fight against ISIS.
The withdrawal could leave Rojava vulnerable to a Turkish invasion similar to the 2018 Afrin operation. It could also push the Syrian Kurds into the arms of Bashar al-Assad and his Russian and Iranian backers.
Before Trump announced his planned withdrawal, the US had been trying to broker a détente between PYD- and KDP-backed groups – with minimal success.
Turkey-backed Syrian rebels launch attack into Kurdish-held area
BEIRUT/AMMAN (Reuters) – Turkey-backed Syrian rebels launched an offensive into territory held by the Kurdish YPG militia north of the Syrian city of Aleppo on Saturday, seizing some territory before heavy shelling forced them to retreat.
The operation marked an escalation on one of the most complicated theatres of the multi-sided Syrian war. Though the rebels are targeting the YPG, Syrian government forces are also deployed nearby as are their Russian and Iran-backed allies.
The Turkey-backed Syrian National Army took three villages before withdrawing “because of heavy shelling and the lack of an ability to sweep the area completely in the light of the targeting of our forces”, said Yousef Hammoud, its spokesman.
He said pro-Damascus forces had shelled the advancing National Army fighters.
The YPG, which has fought alongside U.S. forces against Islamic State in eastern and northeastern Syria, has lost ground in the northwest since early 2018, when Turkish forces and their Syrian allies drove it from the Afrin region.
A military source in the Afrin Liberation Forces, which is close to the YPG, told Reuters the Turkey-backed rebels had advanced into an area where the Kurdish forces had no presence before being forced out.
“Now, after strikes from our forces, the opposition forces were forced to withdraw from those positions,” the source said.
The National Army was formed with Turkish backing from a number of rebel Free Syrian Army groups. Its main foothold is a chunk of territory northeast of Aleppo known as Euphrates Shield that is secured with help from Turkish forces on the ground.
The FSA groups have long vowed to take the YPG-held territory north of Aleppo including the town of Tel Rifaat, taken by the Kurdish militia since 2016.
The Turkish defence ministry said one Turkish soldier was killed and another was wounded in a YPG attack in Tel Rifaat on Saturday.
Turkey views the YPG as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has waged an insurgency on Turkish soil for autonomy in Turkey’s largely Kurdish southeast since 1984. The PKK is deemed a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the United States and the European Union.
The YPG is the backbone of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the main Syrian partner of the U.S.-backed coalition against Islamic State. The SDF controls northeastern and eastern Syria, approximately one quarter of the country.
Reporting by Suleiman al-Khalidi in Amman, Khalil Ashawi in Turkey and Rodi Said in Qamishli; Writing by Tom Perry.
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Repression against ecological campaign ‘Make Rojava Green Again’
‘Make Rojava Green Again’ Initiative condemned the repression against Danish activist Anne Dalum.
After the Danish secret service (PET) found out that Anne had planned to travel to Rojava (Northern Syria) to participate in the ecological projects of ‘Make Rojava Green Again’ her passport was taken away by Danish police. A court case to try and overturn this decision is now underway in Frederiksberg, Denmark.
In a statement about Anne Dalum’s case, the Initiative said the following;
“We see this action by the Danish state as part of a wider context of repression in general against activists supporting the democratic project in Rojava. In particular, international fighters of the self-defense forces YPG/YPJ returning to Europe are facing high repression. (i.e. in Italy, the UK, Denmark, Germany, Switzerland and Spain).. YPG/YPJ and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) are the structures defending the people of Northern-Eastern Syria. They defeated the Islamic State and therefore saved not only the people of Rojava, but humanity as a whole. In this fight against fascism thousands of fighters, including internationalists, gave their lives.
Only because of this heroic resistance are we now able to work on the construction of an ecological-democratic society here in Northern Syria. In this way we see people coming to Rojava to participate in either the civil or military structures of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) not as criminals but as honorable people fighting against injustice.
Make Rojava Green Again’ has already been affected by repression through the shutdown of the Kurdish publishing house Mezopotamya by the German state and the confiscation of more than 10.000 books, including the self-titled book of our campaign It seems that the governments of many European states are afraid of people seeing the reality and talking about the Revolution in Northern Syria. We see the participation of international activists from all around the world as important and meaningful.
We call on everyone to continue supporting the people in Rojava and the whole of Northern-Eastern Syria. At the same time we demand that the governments change their hypocritical stance against AANES and finally stop their support of the authoritarian regime in Turkey, which is directly threatening this democratic project through its support of reactionary Islamist forces in the Middle East.”
BACKGROUND
Below is the translation of a Danish newspaper article about Anne Dalum’s case.
“Traveling to the Rojava region in northern Syria and participating in a reconstruction project is not a creditable purpose [anerkendelsesværdigt formål, literally ‘purpose worthy of recognition’], says the Copenhagen Police. This passport revocation is the first of its kind to be tested in court.
A Danish woman has had her passport revoked and gotten a travel ban for a year when she wanted to travel to the Rojava region in northern Syria to participate in the reconstruction project Make Rojava Green Again.
The woman, 33-year old Anne Dalum, had bought the ticket for January 7, but the day before departure Copenhagen Police knocked on the door to her residence and revoked her passport.
It happened by referring to the tightening of the Passport Law in 2015, which among other things were supposed to help prevent the recruitment of foreign fighters into armed conflicts.
Rebuilding the region
The revocation has shaken this woman.
“It was never my intention to go to Syria to go to war. I wanted to participate in the civic work to rebuild the Rojava region. Make Rojava Green Again is working with ecological restoration, wind use and reuse of water,” said Anne Dalum.
She has made no secret of her sympathy for the reconstruction efforts and has mentioned it on Facebook.
Rojava, which is also known as the Democratic Federation in Northern Syria, is an autonomous, stateless area run by the Democratic Union Party, PYD.
PYD has two military units, YPG and YPJ, both of which currently forms part of the international coalition in the fight against ISIS, and which are under the protection of US forces and aircraft in the area. Denmark is part of the coalition with YPG and YPJ, and various international forces stationed in Rojava.
The Syrian civil war has never spread to the area in question.
To be tested in court
The 33-year-old woman has taken the opportunity to get the passport revocation tried in court. The case was opened last Thursday at a preliminary hearing in the court in Frederiksberg.
It is the first time a case of passport revocation from someone declared not to be a foreign fighter to be tried in the court system.
It was revealed at the hearing that the police apparently does not suspect Anne Dalum to participate in an armed conflict. The prosecutor from the Copenhagen Police, Sabine Mosegaard Sørensen, declared that the very presence in the region and the very purpose of the project is not creditable.
Copenhagen Police brought a statement from the Danish intelligence services PET that a person traveling to Syria will pose a danger to national security and be a significant threat to public order unless the person has a creditable purpose.
Subsequently, the prosecutor did not want to comment further on the case.
Questions about the purpose of the law
Anne Dalum’s lawyer, Erbil Kaya, calls the case unusual. He does not believe that she should be subject to the passport law.
“The purpose of the law was to stop radicalization, so people subsequently do not become a problem. This is something else. She does not want go to fight. Neither are there any information indicating that.
She wants to travel for humanitarian reasons. She wants to go down there and help. Is the law intended to stop her if she wants that?”, he asks.
In the preliminary work to the passport law, which came into force in January 2015, the focus is specifically on the ISIS fighters, holy warriors and to stop people who go out to fight, and thus may pose a threat.
Justitia out with a warning
In a hearing in 2014, the legal think tank Justitia warned that the tightening of the passport law could lead to a situation like Anne Dalum’s.
According to Director Jacob Mchangama, he remarked back then that the scope of the law was vague and should be qualified.
“We problematized the required suspicion in the decisions and said that there should be clearer evidence of whether you pose a danger. And also that a travel ban should require weighty reasons. We warned that more or less loose utterances on social media could lead to a risk. That’s exactly what happened here,” he says.
Erbil Kaya has previously appeared for two other people, Joanna Palani and Martin from Esbjerg, which he’s called, as the surname is not public, both of which have previously been deprived of their passports.
In both cases they had openly declared that they would travel out to fight against the Islamic State. Joanna Palani is today serving imprisonment for violation of the travel ban.
The case at the court in Frederiksberg has not yet been scheduled, but is assumed to be completed before the summer.”
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27 March 2019
Mazloum Abdi points out, “After Daesh was overwhelmingly defeated in al-Baguz village, and after the evacuation of civilians and the surrender of hundreds of terrorists, SDF’s fighters, with the participation of the International Coalition to Fight Daesh, fought strongly in the battles to eradicate Deash, declaring to the entire world the destruction of the so-called Caliphate.”
Abdi asserts that the elimination of the region and strongholds of the terrorist organization was the result of great efforts and sacrifices made by the Syrian Democratic Forces and the Coalition.
“High-level coordination takes place between the two sides and their strong relations will soon put an end to the nightmare that has engulfed the entire world and transformed the region into a center of terrorist activity,” he said.
Mazloum Abdi notes that the joint decisions which were taken by SDF and the International Coalition Forces have made the liberation of a city after the other possible, while there was avoidance of leaving civilian casualties through the use of precise military tactics that were under full control.
Abdi believes that the US President Donald Trump’s decision to leave some US troops in Syria is crucial for the next stage of the battle against Daesh, which involves eradicating its intellectual and ideological roots and requires long-term sustained action.
Abdi points out that the US political and military leadership, as well as the members of the US Congress agree that the threat posed by IS’ terrorist organization is still far from the goal of eliminating it. By keeping the US forces in the region and rearranging the US strategy, the next phase of the war against terrorism will help SDF to maintain the gains that have been achieved so far.
“We want to emphasize the role of the US Department of Defense, especially the commander of the US Central Command, Joseph Votill, in winning the battlefield against Daesh, and ensuring security and stability in the liberated areas of darkness,” Abdi said.
“We recognize the important role of the former presidential envoy of the International Coalition Britt McGuck in this victory, and thank him for bringing together different countries under the banner of the International Coalition and building a bridge of cooperation between them and Syrian Democratic Forces.”
Abdi said, “We must pay attention to some of the main challenges before us: the sleeper cells planted by the terrorist organization, the danger of Daesh’s ability to reorganize itself by using and employing individual terrorists’ tactics (individual wolves) in terrorist acts such as bombings and assassinations.”
He stresses that there is also an increasing need to restore the community’s cohesion, reorganize people and return them to their societies. “The areas occupied by the terrorists have turned into rubble and must be revived. The rehabilitation requires ongoing support and rehabilitation at all levels so that the citizens can return to their normal lives.”
“In accordance with the UN resolutions, the continued cooperation between the Syrian Democratic Forces and the International Coalition to confront Daesh will contribute to ending the Syrian crisis,” the General Mazloum Abdi said.
ANHA
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SDF announce Daesh’s defeat, start of new phase to fight its sleeping cells
DEIR EZ-ZOR
The General Command of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) issued on Saturday in al-Omer field in Deir ez-Zor countryside a statement to the public opinion, announcing the defeat of Daesh.
Before reading the statement, the attendees held a minute of silence which was accompanied by a military parade performed by the fighters of SDF, and listening to the Kurdish national anthem “Hey Reqib.”
Then, the general commander of SDF Mazloum Abdi, the commander of the Women Protection Units (YPJ) Newroz Ahmed, and the US envoy to the International Coalition to fight Daesh William Rubak raised the curtains on the monument that symbolizes this historic day.
The statement was read by the general commander of SDF Mazloum Abdi in the presence of leaders of the International Coalition against Daesh, SDF commanders and fighters, officials in the Autonomous Administration (AA) of North and East Syria, representatives of the political parties, and the clans’ heads and notables in north and east Syria.
The statement included,
“On behalf of the General Command of SDF, all their fighters, and all our allies who fought with us in the same trench, we announce the destruction of what was called the organization of the Islamic State and the end of its field control on the last enclaves in al-Baguz region.
After our forces defeated al-Qaeda organization’s terrorists and their followers who used to receive support and facilities from regional forces and with our own modest potentials through the heroic resistance of 2012 and 2013, our regions were attacked by Daesh in early 2014, and the battle of Kobani was the symbol of the global resistance against terrorism and the beginning of Daesh’s defeat. Now, after five years of fighting, we stand here to declare the field defeat of Daesh.
We are proud of what we have achieved in the result of our battle against Daesh and al-Qaeda, and that is represented by rescuing nearly 5 million inhabitants of north and east Syria with all components from the clutches of terrorism, the liberation of 52 thousand km2 of the Syrian territories and the elimination of the terrorism that used to threaten humanity.
This victory was very expensive as more than 11,000 of our forces; commanders and fighters martyred, civilian victims were left, and more than 21,000 of our fighters injured. On this occasion, we cannot but commemorate those great heroes. We bow in tribute to the martyrs and wish the speedy recovery for our wounded as without their sacrifices, this victory would not have been achieved.
Likewise, we express our deepest thanks to all those who contributed and participated in this battle against terrorism, particularly the International Coalition against Daesh.
The main factor of SDF’s success in their battle against terrorism was their adoption of the democratic approach, the principles of the democratic nation and the freedom of women and the principles of co-existence and peoples’ fraternity which brought together the Kurdish, Arab, Syriac, Assyrian, Turkmen, Chechen and Circassian fighters and the international fighters under the flag SDF.
Just as SDF have helped the people of the liberated areas to establish their administrative and security institutions, they will also create the stability of the regions so that these areas would be able to rebuild their administrative and legislative councils through democratic elections.
In conclusion, we affirm that our battle against Daesh’s terrorism will continue until the full victory is achieved and its total existence is eliminated. At the same time, we call on the Coalition Forces to support us in the new stage to fight Daesh terrorists through the continuation of accurate military and security campaigns aiming at eliminating Daesh’s secret military presence completely.
ANHA
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Kurds Destroy Islamic State, Prepare For War Vs. Turkey
After announcing their complete victory over the Islamic State (IS) at the shattered town of Baghouz al-Fawqani in eastern Syria — ending the five year existence of the murderous IS caliphate — – fighters of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) now have to contend with the real possibility of a war against Turkey supported by its patron, Russia.
The Kurds also face the possibility president Donald Trump will fulfill a vow made in December 2018 to abandon them with the defeat of IS.
The world is celebrating the historic victory of the Kurds along with their allied Arab, Assyrian/Syrian and Christian militias over IS was announced on March 23. Since the U.S.-backed SDF was founded in October 2015, the mission of the SDF is to establish a secular, democratic and federal Syria.
French President Emmanuel Macron praised the SDF’s announcement about the end of IS as a territorial entity.
“Syrian democratic forces announced that the last bastion of Daesh had fallen. I pay tribute to our partners and the armies of the international coalition, of which France is a part. They fought the terrorists with determination, for our security,” tweeted Macron.
“We do not forget the victims of Daesh. The stage reached today is immense: a major danger for our country is eliminated. But the threat remains and the fight against terrorist groups must continue.”
British Prime Minister Theresa May also welcomed the news, and vowed to do “what is necessary” to protect British people and others from the threat of IS.
The SDF held a ceremony on the afternoon of March 23 to mark the victory over Daesh. The ceremony was attended by U.S. Ambassador William Roebuck and Syrian Democratic Council (SDC) co-chair Ilham Ahmed. Roebuck congratulated the SDF on its victory over the jihadists.
“This critical milestone in the fight against ISIS delivers a crushing, strategic blow and underscores the unwavering commitment of our local partners and the global coalition to defeat ISIS,” said Roebuck, reading a statement from Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
“We could not have achieved any of this without the unwavering commitment and unity of our coalition and the tremendous sacrifice of our Syrian partners on the ground who have lost thousands of lives, taking back their homeland and helping to protect coalition homelands at the same time.”
“We honor the sacrifices and the valor of the Syrian Democratic Forces in achieving this victory and express condolences for the many lives lost in the campaign,” said Roebuck.
SDC co-chair Ahmed congratulated the Syrian people, but warned the fight to destroy ISIS sleeper cells and the group’s ideology must continue. There are anywhere from 10,000 to 20,000 jihadists in these sleeper cells.
British Army General Sir Nicholas Carter, chief of the Defense Staff, offered his “deep and most sincere condolences to the families of the many who have fallen (from the SDF) in the important and noble endeavor. We also have great admiration for the humanity and care that your forces have shown during this difficult and final battle to try to avoid civilian casualties and to receive those fleeing Baghouz.”
Practically the entire SDF consists of Kurdish men and women fighters led by the People’s Protection Units (YPG), a mostly Kurdish militia declared a terrorist organization by Turkey and its dictator, Recip Tayyip Erdogan.
The horrific campaign to destroy IS cost the SDF 11,000 dead. Of this total, 8,000 were Kurds of the YPG, more than 1,800 were Kurdish Peshmerga fighters with the rest of the dead spread among the other SDF militias.
Analysts agree that without the superhuman sacrifice of the Kurds, IS would still exist today. Kurds now have to turn their attention towards defeating an offensive by the Turkish Army within the year.
In December 2018, Erdogan said he had postponed a military offensive in northeastern Syria against the Kurds, citing conversations with Trump and other American officials. He did make it clear Turkey will eventually follow through on plans for an assault on Kurdish forces in the area.
Fighters of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) stand atop a roof next to their unfurled flag at a position in the village of Baghouz in Syria’s eastern Deir Ezzor province near the Iraqi border on March 24, 2019, a day after the Islamic State (IS) group’s ‘caliphate’ was declared defeated by the US-backed Kurdish-led SDF. Photo: GIUSEPPE CACACE/AFP/Getty Images
“In the upcoming months, on the ground in Syria, we will follow a style of incursion that eliminates both PKK-YPD elements and remnants of Daesh,” said Erdogan.
This announcement came after Trump declared his intention to withdraw United States forces in Syria without consulting his military commanders, Arab allies in the region and NATO.
Trump’s decision to withdraw delighted Turkey, Russia and Iran, Syria’s main backers. It angered the Kurds and many American officials who saw it as a shameful abandonment of the Kurds. Israeli officials also said they felt abandoned by Trump, whose decision will strengthens Iran’s hold on Syria and create a strategic threat to Israel.
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis announced his resignation the day after Trump’s order, making clear he opposed the Syria withdrawal, along with other presidential actions.
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Lorenzo Orsetti: a modern-day partisan
ROSA GILBERT salutes her comrade, the Italian revolutionary killed this week in the fight between Isis and Kurdish-led forces in Syria
Lorenzo Orsetti was part of an international anarchist group attached to the the armed units Turkish Communist Party/Marxist Leninist fighting Isis in northern Syria
ON MONDAY morning came the devastating news that an Italian YPG volunteer, Lorenzo “Orso” Orsetti, had been killed by an Isis ambush in Baghouz, the small town on the Deir Ezzor front where the remnants of the Isis caliphate are surrounded. Orsetti, also known by his nom-de-guerre Tekoser Piling, had been in northern Syria since September 2017 when he travelled from his hometown in Florence, Tuscany to defend the revolution in Rojava led by the Kurds in northern Syria, one he described as “the most beautiful revolution in the world,” “the closest thing I’ve ever found to my ideals and it is a pleasure and an honour to take part.”
Clarifying his motivation for taking up arms in Rojava, he said that it wasn’t because he liked war or wanted fame, that he didn’t have any mystifications or delusions, simply that “freedom cannot exist without taking risks.” According to countless stories, Orso (“bear” in Italian) was an incredibly brave and selfless fighter, and whilst he always impressed on friends and comrades the need to act in an altruistic manner in his dispatches from the front line, he never boasted or exalted his own activity.
He never even told people how, whilst fighting in the hills of Afrin against the Turkish/FSA invasion in spring 2018, with defeat in sight, he refused to be evacuated with the rest of his internationalist unit, insisting on staying with the civilians to defend them from the invasion at huge risk to himself until civilians themselves were evacuated. Fighting in the hills of Afrin in incredibly difficult conditions surrounded by jihadists and bombarded day and night by Turkey’s air force (equipped by both Britain and Italy), his dispatches from the front line sounded like epic tales of guerilla warfare from the partisan resistance, swapping the olive tree-filled mountains between Florence and Bologna for those of the north-west Syrian Kurdish enclave.
Orso came from a very ordinary family in Rifredi, a working-class neighbourhood in Florence filled with monuments and plaques to the anti-fascist partisans, many of whom hailed from the area in which he grew up. Bored by successive menial service jobs, mainly as a waiter and chef, he looked to Rojava as an escape from the drudgery and trappings of individualistic capitalist society. Not coming from any particular political faction, he was known more socially in Florence than as an activist or political raconteur, so although he had strong political ideals of an anarchist-libertarian disposition, above all he was not given to orthodoxy or dogmatism.
His anti-sectarianism was typical of his political and moral ethos of surpassing egoism and individualism, supporting solidarity events in the city from any and all political factions, fighting in an anarchist unit that was attached to TiKKO, the armed wing of the Turkish Communist Party/Marxist Leninist (TKP/ML) from which he took great inspiration.
It was perhaps his knowledge of the history of the Spanish Civil War and the anti-fascist liberation of Italy that gave him this anti-sectarian drive, but also perhaps his amenable personality and his very well-attuned balance between ideological rigour and pragmatism. Quietly well-read and intelligent, he would happily defend the need for strong ideology within a coherent, disciplined movement, revolutionary practices of self-criticism and rebut attacks on socialism as “dehumanising” or “impersonal” as liberal propaganda promoting individualism.
It was this anti-individualistic quality to life as a revolutionary that gave him a sense of profound belonging in Rojava, so far away from his hometown, his friends and family, his beloved dog and the high quality tinned tomatoes that he missed so dearly — despite the paltry ingredients, his unit were always delighted when it was his turn to cook.
Addressing a meeting in Florence by video last October, where two of his internationalist comrades were speaking, Orso spoke directly to his YPG comrades to a room packed with activists clinging onto every last word: “I love you guys so much, we went through so many crazy situations together, I love you like a family. In life, even amongst comrades there’s always this deep individualism that permeates everything, but here it’s different… care and attention for others, it’s beautiful.”
Having come very close to being killed in Afrin and numerous close calls on the Hajin and Deir Ezzor fronts, Orso was philosophical about death, writing in detail about fallen comrades and reflecting on conversations with locals as much as about the geopolitical machinations and his tales of war, which he recounted in an utterly level-headed way but threaded through with intimate minutiae. As he wrote in his final letter to be published in the event of his death (reproduced below), his dedication to the revolutionary cause in Rojava was such that, whilst wanting to live and continue the struggle, he was always ready to die, to sacrifice his life, for what he saw as a social and political revolution.
Today as I see Orso’s name and photo across every newsstand in Florence, on the front page of every major newspaper, I’m reminded of the words in his final letter encouraging us all to inspire each other and to have hope; already Orso has inspired so many, and the reaction to his death has provided hope — hope that there is still something worth fighting and dying for, where the victory is in sight, and hope in the Italian left which has reawakened, producing a deluge of tributes, banners, graffiti, just hours after his death was announced.
Last year during the Afrin invasion, his presence there and his regular dispatches from the front line were the guiding light for the huge mobilisation of solidarity in Florence, demonstrations, events, club nights, films, with the involvement of his musician friends collecting money for the Kurdish Red Crescent using the name “From Rifredi to Afrin.”
When his father stood up on the stage to proudly speak about Orso at the annual celebrations on April 25 — marking the anniversary of the anti-fascist liberation — we heard that the local ANPI section “Potente” (named after one of the Florentine partisans killed during the liberation of Florence in August 1944) was planning to grant him honorary partisan status in tribute to his bravery and continuance of the partisan cause.
It is a tragedy that this honour will now be posthumous. Unfortunately we don’t get to welcome Orso home, as in the partisan song “Fischia il vento” about the free, victorious partisan returning home. Instead, as in “Bella Ciao,” Orso will be buried under the shade of a beautiful flower where he fell in Rojava. But the story of the partisan bear (“orso”) who travelled from Rifredi to Rojava to fight fascism and defend a socialist, feminist revolution will serve as an inspiration for future generations in this city and across the world, just as the partisans, who have by now all but passed away, kept alive the cause of liberation, and the hope that one day we will win.
“Hello. If you are reading this message then it means that I am no longer of this world. Don’t be too sad, though, I’m OK with it; I don’t have any regrets and I died doing what I thought was right, defending the weak and staying true to my ideals of justice, equality and liberty.
So in spite of my premature departure, my life has been a success, and I’m almost certain that I went with a smile on my face. I couldn’t have asked for more.
I wish all of you all the best in the world and I hope that one day, you too will decide to give your life for others (if you haven’t already) because that is the only way to change the world.
Only by combatting the individualism and egoism in each of us can we make a difference. These are difficult times, I know, but don’t give in to despair, don’t ever abandon hope, never! Not even for a second.
Even when all seems lost, when the evils that plague the earth and humanity seem insurmountable, you must find strength, you must inspire strength in your comrades.
It is in the darkest moments that we have greatest need of your light.
And remember always that “every storm begins with a single raindrop.” You must be that raindrop.
I love you all, I hope you will treasure these words for time to come.
Serkeftin!
Orso, Tekoser, Lorenzo.”
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1 Turkish soldier and 2 gang members killed in Afrin
Afrin Liberation Forces carried out a sabotage action along the Tirinde road. 1 Turkish soldier and 2 gang members were killed in the action.
Afrin Liberation Forces issued a statement on the action and said:
“As part of actions our fighters carried out against the invading Turkish army and the terrorist groups under their control positioned in and around Afrin;
On March 7, our fighters carried out a sabotage action against the checkpoint where soldiers and Firqat al Hamzat terrorist units were positioned in along the Tirinde road in Afrin center. 1 soldier and 2 terrorists were killed in the action, while 2 terrorists were wounded. The checkpoint was also damaged heavily.”
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A Glimmer of Hope: The extraordinary story of a revolution within the Syrian civil war
For the past few years, most people would have come across news stories of how Kurdish fighters in Syria, especially women, have been crucial in battling the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. Very few, however, would be aware that in the north and eastern parts of Syria these same Kurdish fighters are part of a revolution as progressive, profound and potentially as far-reaching as any in history.
In the north and eastern parts of Syria, an attempt to create an alternative system to hierarchical states, capitalism and patriarchy is underway and should it fully succeed it holds the potential to inspire the struggle for a better, more egalitarian Middle East, Africa, South Africa and indeed world. As in any revolution it has had its successes and shortcomings, but it is already an experiment worth reflecting on as it shows a far different world could be built to the extremely unequal and increasingly right-wing and authoritarian one that exists today.
The start of Rojava
In the aftermath of the Arab Spring in Syria, most of the country descended into a hellish nightmare as a vicious civil war erupted between the brutal Assad regime and equally reactionary groups claiming to be inspired by Islamic fundamentalism. Compounding this was the intervention of imperialist powers such as the US and Russia, and regional powers such as Turkey, Israel and Iran. One area where there was a difference was the mainly Kurdish enclave in the north of Syria known as Rojava.
There, on 19 July 2012, popular protests erupted against the Assad regime. Government buildings were occupied and taken over by the people. Many of the people involved in this had been building a popular movement for almost a decade that had the vision of implementing a radical concept — Democratic Confederalism.
The vision of Democratic Confederalism
Democratic Confederalism was first outlined by Abdullah Ocalan, who began his political life as an adherent of Stalinism and was the head of the Kurdish Workers’ Party (PPK) that had been engaged in a guerrilla war for the national liberation of the Kurdish people in Turkey.
In 1999, Ocalan was captured in Kenya — in an incident involving intelligence agencies from Turkey, the US and Greece — and tried for treason by the Turkish state. He was initially sentenced to death, but that was commuted to a life sentence as, at that point, the Turkish state had aspirations of joining the EU.
Since then, he has been held on the prison island of Imrali, often as the only prisoner, and now in total isolation since April 2015 — indeed the right-wing Erdogan regime has even denied visitation by his family members and lawyers (presently hundreds of people across the world are on hunger strike demanding an end to his isolation).
In the early 2000s, Ocalan nonetheless began a process of reflecting on what went wrong with past revolutionary struggles, most notably the Russian Revolution and the communist party’s rise to power as head of the Chinese state. During these revolutions, the energy of millions of people was released, a hope of a better future grew, only to flounder on the rise of the totalitarian states that emerged.
At the same time, Ocalan also began reading the works of libertarian socialist and social ecologist Murray Bookchin, as well as studying the experiences of the anarchist-syndicalist inspired Spanish Revolution of 1936 (which was one of the most radical revolutions in terms of worker democracy and control; although it too is not well known).
Ocalan came to the conclusion that the main reason past revolutions had failed is that they did not put an end to the structure of the state. Rather, communist parties entered the state and through that process, the leaders of these parties became rulers and a new elite within those societies.
In these states figures such as Lenin, Trotsky, Stalin, Mao and those loyal to them held real power; not the majority of people. Ocalan, therefore, argued that all states, whether claiming to be revolutionary or not, were hierarchical and subjugated, oppressed and exploited the majority of people.
He also argued states were inherently patriarchal and first arose in societies where a minority became an elite ruling class, but also importantly, in ones in which men began oppressing women and exploiting their labour. He concluded, due to their very structures — which centralised power — states could not escape or be altered to fundamentally shift away from their original purpose: Enabling an elite to hold power and rule over society.
Ocalan maintained that if a revolution was to be achieved, women’s liberation would have to be a central component. He also reasoned that capitalism needed to be replaced, but so too did the state. To replace these he argued for a communal economy that was based on the socialisation of the means of production and production for need, not profit.
He also argued such an economy needed to be ecologically sustainable and democratic. To replace the state, he maintained federated assemblies and councils should be created and they should function on the basis of direct democracy.
This, he felt, would prevent the emergence of an elite as within direct democracy there could be no hierarchy as delegates were always subject to the will of assemblies at the base of society. Monopolisation could not take place in a socialised and democratic economy.
By the mid-2000s most people involved in the Kurdish national liberation struggle in Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran had come to adopt Democratic Confederalism. With this, they began to attempt to forge a new world in the shell of the old by building a mass movement of community-based councils and assemblies across southern Turkey, northeastern Syria, northern Iraq and northwestern Iran.
In this, direct democracy, feminism and participatory praxis replaced undemocratic notions of hierarchy and vanguardism as defining features of the Kurdish national liberation struggle.
Implementing Democratic Confederalism
Since 2012, when the Syrian state left the north and eastern parts of the country, people in this area known as Rojava — Kurds, Turks and Arabs — expanded these structures of direct democracy. As part of this, they set up thousands of communes — made up of 60 to 100 households — right across Rojava to run the society from the grassroots on the basis of a radical democracy without a state.
People themselves, through participation in the communes, decide through direct democracy on policies, plans, and how to meet needs in their own communities. They democratically deal with issues such as crime at a local level and use restorative justice as opposed to punitive justice in order to constructively heal communities.
This includes dealing with issues such as gender-based violence. Due to having a history of being involved in a movement based on direct democratic organisations, people were already familiar with such politics and putting such a system fully into practice was not alien.
The communes, in fact, have full autonomy and are where true power resides. Through mass meetings, they are the sole decision-making bodies regarding the economy, services, development, education and defence in the areas they cover. No structure or institution has any right or ability to override decisions made by the communes.
The communes, while being autonomous, are federated into neighbourhood assemblies — in this, the communes send mandated and recallable delegates to neighbourhood assemblies to share their ideas, views and plans to ensure co-ordination from below. Recallable delegates from the neighbourhood assemblies are then sent to City Assemblies. These are all linked through delegates that are sent to a structure that covers the entire region, named the Syrian Democratic Council.
By 2016, a form of representative democracy had also been introduced in the Syrian Democratic Council. Other parties and formations — who were not mandated delegates from the communes and assemblies — also began to participate in the Syrian Democratic Council through an election.
This has proven to be a controversial issue. Some argue that the introduction of a form of representative democracy in the Syrian Democratic Council undermines the direct democracy envisioned in Democratic Confederalism. They contend it introduces practices similar to those of a state. Others argue that it was a necessary step to ensure unity of the people of Rojava in the face of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) attacks and some form of international recognition.
Linked to this argument, its proponents contend that as a minority of parties and organisations had refused to participate in the communes and neighbourhood assemblies some form of representative democracy in the Syrian Democratic Council was necessary to also give such people a say. Those defending this move also point out that the communes remain the real holders of power and the Syrian Democratic Council cannot override their decisions nor impose any policy, practice or law on them.
Ultimately it does seem to be the case that the communes do hold real power, although introducing elements of representative democracy in the Syrian Democratic Council holds the real danger of introducing new hierarchies. An important development, though, is that women play a central role in this system of Democratic Confederalism. Each assembly or council — including the Syrian Democratic Council — have to ensure gender parity among delegates. To have a quorum in commune meetings at least 40% of the participants have to be women.
In the process of the revolution, real strides have been made to create a genuinely democratic form of people’s power with women playing a central role. As the fighters from Rojava have rolled back ISIS, new areas have joined the system of self-governance based on Democratic Confederalism. Presently 4.6 million people live and participate in this system, now known as the Democratic Federation of Northern Syria.
On the economic front, there has been an attempt to replace capitalism with a communal economy. At the heart of this experiment are worker self-managed co-operatives that produce not for profits, but to meet peoples’ needs. Besides being based on workers’ democracy, these co-operatives are also accountable to everyone involved in the Democratic Federation of Northern Syria through being answerable to the federated communes.
Large industries, of which oil is the only real one, and ex-state-owned commercial farms have also been socialised — that is, ownership is by all. By some estimates, 70% of economic activity is conducted through co-operatives. Small-sized businesses still do exist, but these are required to be based on meeting peoples’ needs and are reportedly accountable to the communes — to temper profit motives and price gouging.
Threats from many sides
Over the course of almost seven years, the people of the Democratic Federation of Northern Syria — mainly through democratic militia — have fought off the many dangers that have been posed to the revolution, which have included the forces of the Syrian state, ISIS and the Turkish state.
In the process a tactical military alliance was formed in 2015 with the US — it only arose because the Kurdish forces proved the most capable in combating ISIS. The US, as always, has only adhered to the tactical military alliance for its own purposes and has categorically refused to politically recognise the existence of the Democratic Federation of Northern Syria. It recently mooted that its troops would pull out of Syria in a move that will give the Turkish state a free hand to militarily intervene against the Democratic Federation of Northern Syria.
In January 2019, the Turkish state in fact began to make plans for the invasion of northern Syria to end the revolution. The Turkish state fears the revolution will spread into Turkey itself and it does not want an experiment in direct democracy, feminism, ecology, anti-statism, and anti-capitalism to succeed.
Already in 2018, the Turkish state invaded part of Rojava, Afrin, and is now unleashing plans to invade the rest of north and eastern Syria. These plans have been condemned by the peoples of the Democratic Federation of Northern Syria. They have called for a genuine international peacekeeping force to be deployed to prevent the invasion. Indeed, if such an invasion occurs there will be a massive escalation of the war in Syria, which will at the very least lead to thousands more deaths and hundreds of thousands of new refugees.
Showing us the potential for a better way
Despite some weaknesses and the threats the revolution faces, it is a beacon of hope. For South Africans, the revolution in northern and eastern Syria holds real lessons and potential hope.
When the liberation movement in South Africa gained state power, it promised to use this to improve people’s lives, end racism, address sexism and bring about equality. This has flatly failed to happen.
Ocalan’s analysis that once in state power, former liberation movements become a new elite and new rulers that develop self-serving interests precisely due to their new power and privileged positions they occupy, has proven to be correct. It is exactly why we sit with corruption throughout the state in South Africa as officials abuse the hierarchical power they have to enrich themselves.
Democratic Confederalism, as is shown in Syria, offers another way to run society. Its direct democracy can temper corruption and create greater equality as power cannot be centralised in such a system and wealth cannot be accumulated individually.
Developments in the Democratic Federation of Northern Syria also demonstrate how a non-racial society can be built through a radical democracy and that gender relations can be changed through a participatory revolutionary process. This is something that is desperately needed in South Africa where gender-based violence, sexism and racism are everyday occurrences.
In South Africa, we are saddled with one of the most corrupt private sectors in the world. Practices such as price gouging, collusion, transfer pricing and tax evasion/avoidance are prevalent in the private sector.
Working conditions, especially in the agricultural sector, are often harsh and even brutal. Pay is often low, which is one of the reasons we are one of the most unequal societies in the world. Unemployment, too, is rife and precarious work a growing phenomenon.
Past revolutions have shown, however, that nationalisation is often not the answer. Developments in Syria to create a socialised communal economy that is democratic shows another path could be followed.
In order to create a more democratic and egalitarian path (which Democratic Confederalism shows can be done), a new mass movement with a new vision, clear ethics, sound principles and truly democratic practices in South Africa is needed.
Without such a movement we will remain mired in a society defined by exploitation and corruption. To build such a movement will be no easy task, but it is what is needed: What the revolution in northern Syria shows is that it can be done. DM
Shawn Hattingh is a Research & Education Officer with the International Labour, Research & Information Group.
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Syrian Kurds welcome UN report documenting war crimes in Afrin
Free Syrian Army (FSA) fighters enter the center of Afrin on March 18, 2018, and destroy the Kurdish Kawa statue. (Photo: Social Media)
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – A representative of the Syrian Democratic Council (SDC) in the United States has welcomed the latest report the United Nations’ Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria released on Thursday that described the practices by Turkish-backed groups in Afrin as war crimes.
Sinam Mohamad, an SDC representative in the US, said the UN report is “a good sign and start” to shed light on the violations in Afrin, but emphasized that more had to be done.
According to Mohamad, the Turkish occupation in Afrin must end, and the Turkish-backed groups need to leave. Turkey and its armed groups occupiedthe former Kurdish-held region on March 18, 2018.
“Nobody mentioned anything about the violation of human rights, the kidnapping of women, the taking of lands of people, the selling of Afrin’s olive oil by Turkey to Europe, and the demographic change, which is the most dangerous,” she stated.
In its report, the UN said that “there are reasonable grounds to believe that armed group members in Afrin committed the war crimes of hostage-taking, cruel treatment, torture, and pillage.”
“Due to the glaring absence of the rule of law, it similarly remains unclear whether Turkish forces were capable of exercising overall control over any armed groups present in the district,” it added.
Related Article: UN report suggests Turkish-backed groups commit war crimes in Afrin
Several civilians from Afrin who were displaced to the Kurdish city of Kobani confirmed to Kurdistan 24 that many human rights violations had taken place, including torture, kidnapping, and the pillaging of Afrin’s olives.
According to one civilian, Turkish-backed rebel groups arrested him on several occasions.
“I was arrested. They tied my leg with a rope, hanged it on the roof, and beat me with cables,” the civilian, who identified as the pseudonym Ali, recounted.
One Turkish-backed group detained Ali for two months before eventually releasing him.
After this, he attempted to flee from Afrin by going to Idlib and tried to cross the border to Turkey. However, groups in control of the border arrested Ali and brought him back to Afrin.
He eventually paid $1,100 to a Kurdish member of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) to bring him to Ain Dadat, close to Manbij. From there, Ali was able to reach areas the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) control and now lives in Kobani.
Mohamad underlined that the return of Afrin civilians to their original homes, and the departure of Turkish-backed groups is of paramount significance.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the Turkish attack on Afrin resulted in the collapse of the local health system and displaced 167,000 people. Local Kurdish officials say the number is even higher.
“We need a solution,” the SDC official said. “The war crimes are ongoing there, and they have not stopped.”
Furthermore, Turkey has settled thousands of families and fighters from areas like Eastern Ghouta, Douma, Homs, Idlib, and Deir al-Zor to replace the local population.
Mohamad called on the Turkish army to leave Afrin and end its violations, so “the people in the camps can go back to their city and villages.”
Editing by Karzan Sulaivany
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JACOBIN MAGAZINE
Rojava Is Under Existential Threat
Donald Trump’s announced withdrawal from Syria would actually entrench US imperialism in the region — and open up the Kurds’ revolution in Rojava to extermination and colonization.
Local residents speak with a Kurdish soldier while an oil well burns in the distance on November 10, 2015 near the town of Hole in the autonomous region of Rojava, Syria. John Moore / Getty
A Colonial Handover
How would the US relate to the Syrian Kurds and Turkey under Trump’s withdrawal?
In a 2017 report, James F. Jeffrey, the Trump-appointed special representative for Syria engagement, prescribed a change of course.
“Turkey, a NATO member, sits on prime real estate . . . of central importance for U.S. policy in southern Europe and the Middle East,” Jeffrey observed. However, Washington’s “mishandling of the Syrian civil war, along with its tilt toward the PYD in the fight against IS in eastern Syria, risks forcing Turkey ever more into the Russian camp.” To remedy this risk, Jeffrey promoted a “transactional reordering” of relations with Turkey and the wider Middle East, hoping to appease Erdoğan’s drive for “Ataturk-like power.” For example, “the United States can quietly guarantee Turkey that the Armenian Genocide resolution in Congress will not pass,” or adopt a bilateral “model like the US-Israel arms sales relationship to ensure” smooth sales of the costly “F-35” program. If Washington reaches “an agreement with Turkey on its northern Syrian safe zone that would support the Turks and their Syrian opposition allies with advisory teams and airpower . . . and refuse to recognize PYD autonomy, much of the rancor in the current relationship would dissipate.”
That’s one plan. Then there is National Security Advisor John Bolton’s alternative five-point plan, which proposes what amounts to another “safe zone,” this one manned by the Kurdish National Council’s (ENKS) Rôj Peshmerga militia, the Syrian wing of the Kurdistan Regional Government in Iraq (which has strong ties to Erdoğan’s party). Bolton’s plan is favored by the establishment in Washington because it would shift political decision-making in Rojava to the safe neoliberal center. Air support from a potential KSA-UAE-Egypt alliance would then mollify the worries of some Arab states, as well as the Israeli military, about further extension of Iran, Qatar, and the Muslim Brotherhood’s reach in Syria. Here, the United States would save face by not “abandoning the Kurds” and slow down ongoing talks between the PYD and Assad, while retaining de facto control over North and North Eastern Syria.
Either way, the US withdrawal hides a grand strategy to further entrench US imperialism in the region. Americans are not leaving Syria. They’re simply transferring their interests to NATO members and allies. And since the TAF is not even prepared to replace the US Army for such a mission — given the purges the TAF’s personnel has experienced since the attempted coup in Turkey in 2016 — the United States would have to offer “substantial military support, including airstrikes, transport and logistics.” In other words, deeper US military involvement.
Unfortunately, this basic fact has escaped some on the Left, who have taken the purported US pullout at face value and, at times, been willing to believe alternative truths about the revolution in Rojava or dismiss its participants as pawn on the imperialist chessboard. Take, for instance, the infamous 2015 Amnesty International report about alleged human rights abuses by the SDF, which the UN has since debunked. Amid the cacophony raised by this charade, Erdoğan’s expansionist project disguises itself as “anti-imperialist” to silence the real leftist program — the one in Rojava.
More fundamentally, the ready celebration of what is in fact a colonial handover suffers from a lack of awareness about the histories and specificities of oppressed peoples’ struggles in the Middle East against the region’s neoliberal and imperialist states.
Kurdistan, a Colony
Adopting Frantz Fanon’s words, we can say that for the Kurd there is only one destiny: to become a non–Kurd. Assimilation or disappearance has been the colonial reality of the so-called “Kurdish Question” in the Middle East since the beginnings of the modern nation-state, particularly in Turkey and Syria.
The plans for a “safe zone” controlled by Turkey would involve resettling millions of Arab Syrian refugees, currently in Turkey, in Rojava’s Kurdish areas near the Turkish border. The Erdoğan regime, known for pushing neoliberal policies driven by the twin profit motors of construction and energy, have put housing projects for the settlers on the colonial agenda to boost the Turkish economy. The scale of it would be staggering.
In fact, such a colonial-settler project surpasses, in both size and scope, Syrian president Hafez al-Assad’s 1973 completion of the original “Arab Belt” project, which deported 140,000 Kurds from 332 villages in Rojava over ten years to Syria’s southern desert regions, replacing them with twenty-five thousand Arab families in forty-one “model villages.” Demographic engineering lies at the heart of colonial Turkification and Arabization policies that have dominated the region’s political and social realities, from Syria to Turkey and then to Iraq and Iran, against Kurds and Armenians among others.
In the case of Turkey, the state has always attempted to integrate and homogenize the dissident Kurdish regions in its territory into a common cultural stream, first by invading their traditional home places and then by razing them to create spaces of control and discipline. For example, after the 1938 Dersim massacre, which saw tens of thousands killed following a Kurdish uprising against state repression, the Turkish state redistributed the remaining Kurdish population of the area to various majority-Turkish cities. The Turkish state employed the same approach again in the 1990s, when the military burned down more than four thousand Kurdish villages, displacing the entire rural population of the majority-Kurdish Southeast. In both cases, the Turkish state’s primary aim was to domesticate those resisting its aggressive Turkification policies.
Scholars like Ismail Beşikçi, a sociologist of Turkish origin, have shown that the Turkish state’s institutionalized policies against its Kurdish population exhibit a “genocidal character.” Beşikçi also argues that despite the political appearances and differences between Turkey, Syria, Iraq, and Iran, the four nation-states share the cooperative goal of denying their Kurds the right to dignified existence, forging the Kurdish Question in the process — or in his words, the “international colony of Kurdistan.”
The colonial reality of the Kurdish Question, however, is not limited by its territorial determinations and histories either; it is not reducible to the division and allocation of predominantly Kurdish lands in the early twentieth century to the newly born states of Turkey, Syria, and Iraq by imperialist powers. The international colonization of Kurdistan must be understood as a continuum that appears in how citizenship is defined and distributed by state powers across the Middle East.
In Turkey, the state traditionally considered Kurds “pseudo-citizens” who stood outside the boundaries of the Turkish nation, only granted citizenship rights (and an assimilated Kurd identity card) if they relinquished their mother tongue, history, and identity. Beşikçi recalls an ironic scene from the martial law court of Diyarbakır, Turkey, in 1971, where “persons who spoke Kurdish and not even one word of Turkish were said to be Turks, despite the fact that the courts were forced to hire interpreters to communicate with the accused.”
Historically, Kurdistan has therefore been a sort of hybrid colony — assaulted by the various colonial practices of four nation-states, intertwined with the geopolitics of imperialist powers.
“Playing One’s Own Game”
The Kurdish liberation movement is marked by the contradiction that, as Gramsci put it, “whatever one does one is always playing somebody’s game.” He added: “The important thing is to seek in every way to play one’s own game with success.”
Statelessness is one such hurdle. In Syria, a special census, decree No. 93, ordered in 1963 by President Nazim al-Qudsi, stripped 120,000 Kurds of citizenship. By the onset of the Syrian revolution, the descendants of this group numbered more than three hundred thousand, divided into the two extra-legal categories of ajanib, or foreigners, and maktumin, literally undocumented migrants in their own country.
Kurds have tried to make the best of this situation, orienting their strategy and theory toward overcoming it. Abdullah Öcalan, the Kurdish liberation theorist, developed his theory of Democratic Confederalism as one rooted in statelessness, which Syrian Kurds took up as a framework for grassroots organization in the decade preceding the Syrian revolution.
Öcalan’s writings on women’s liberation in the Middle East are no less Machiavellian in both strategic foresight and liberatory aptitude. He regards women’s emancipation “as a tool to destroy the structures of feudal Kurdish society,” where “women were at the bottom of a tribal hierarchy.” He recognizes that “feudal family and tribal structures presented an obstacle to [political] recruitment” and so “breaking down the established patriarchal social order would allow for the emergence of a new society in which women would take part equally.” (The destruction of the patriarchal family structure is doubly important, since the TAF arms and co-opts conservative Kurdish tribes in its war against the PKK.)
The implicit and explicit contradictions of this agenda only underscore the agency and remarkable accomplishments of the Kurdish women’s revolutions in Turkey and Syria. A gender distribution ratio in government, local feminist courts, a social contract that women have played a central role in writing and executing, indigenous and autonomous communalism — all are part of the feminist program in Rojava.
The danger in this Gramscian game, however, is that one might become too prone to playing another’s game. For example, the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) has maintained military bases and airports in Rojava throughout the civil war, since it handed control of Rojava over to the PYD at the outset of the Syrian revolution. (So sure was Bashar al-Assad of continued Kurdish subservience that he even left some guns behind, so the Kurds may fend for themselves.)
One might call this development inevitable, given the PYD’s mistrust of the Turkish-backed opposition umbrella organization, the Syrian National Council (SNC). But it was a position that only alienated the Syrian opposition, who then refused all PYD overtures to join opposition talks on Syria’s future — and who, save for the too-late and even-then-ambiguous Kurdish Issue Charter, had refused to recognize Kurdish demands for federalism. In fact, it is another one of the flaws of some parts of the international left that it continues to condemn the Kurds for refusing to embrace the Sunni and Arab vision of the Spring in Syria.
The PYD’s brief spring of autonomy came to a near end in 2014, when a well-armed ISIS found its way well into the gates of the city of Kobane. Here, the United States entered the Kurdish picture, seeing that its support for a failing Free Syrian Army (FSA) only amounted to a handover to ISIS of the military equipment it supplied to the FSA via Saudi intermediation – weaponry lost to ISIS in battle after battle. US airstrikes against ISIS positions in Kobane then enabled Rojava’s People’s and Women’s Protection Units (YPG and YPJ) to mount a resistance that has since become known as the Stalingrad monument of the war against ISIS.
Of course, the US deployed the narrative of a “war on terror” only as a pretext to attach itself to the PYD/YPG, and as a means to preserve its many interests in the Middle East, one of which is to obstruct the Iranian Shiite Corridor — a path laden with missile depots and stretching from Iraq to Western Syria to the Hezbollah-controlled Lebanon, ending right at Israel’s doorstep. In return, the YPG sought to wipe out ISIS by taking over oil fields in central Syria that funded the group’s reign of terror. In the process, the logistical necessities of driving ISIS out of Rojava also rendered the YPG/J dependent on the US’s might and tact. Add to such military exigencies the severe psychological impact of the atrocities committed by ISIS in Kurdish-majority areas, and it becomes evident that in the formation of the SDF in 2015, under US supervision, we are dealing with a situation in which Rojava’s revolution — built on confederalism and radical democracy — has been pushed toward an anti-ISIS and pro-security and territorial insurrectionary discourse.
Now, with the end of the war against ISIS and with US positions firmly anchored in Syria, the restoration of the status quo in Syria returns the Gramscian Rojava to the status of the odd one out, once again. And having put aspects of its internationalist project on hold, in favor of an understandable drive for security, Rojava finds itself dispensable and replaceable by any bully with a bigger gun — such as Turkey, who can lay claim to securing the remaining pockets of ISIS in Syria. Perhaps, then, the political lesson here is that if a revolutionary force engages in a “war of maneuver” with the aid of a hegemon, it should not lose sight of how that hegemon might be engaged in a careful, atrocious “war of position.”
The SDF’s alternatives to the US’s plans are less clear cut. Damascus’s Russian-dictated reaction to the list of ten reconciliation demands put forward by the Syrian Democratic Council (SDC), the SDF’s political wing, has been lukewarm. Assad is likely weighing the perils of making peace with an armed and organized Rojava in a postwar scene where he will already have his hands full with the reconstruction capital pouring in from Arab states. But after the bloodbath and the chemical bombs, he must also be wary of another resurgence from Syria’s repressed Sunni majority, who kickstarted the revolution and who live between the Damascus strongholds and Rojava. Maintaining Turkey’s Kurdish problem might deter Turkey from sponsoring future revolts, while keeping a leash on Rojava.
As for Trump, his administration will likely seek a deal between the PYD and Turkey that aims to pacify Turkish fears by driving a wedge between the YPG/J and their PKK forbears in Turkey.
What the International Left Should Do
The people of Rojava have fought for their revolution, and their victories have been significant given the challenges. Without an amenable leftist state or party to aid them, their options were simple: die, or die. They have refused that result, fighting instead for a new state of life and politics.
What can the international left do to aid them now, at this crucial juncture? We should support shutting down arms sales to the Turkish state, including from Germany, England, and, of course, the United States. We should staunchly oppose the economic blockade Turkey has imposed on Rojava: items entering from Rojava’s border with Iraq are restricted to no more than the bare necessities of sustenance. Here, the international left could raise the costs of the Turkish embargo on Rojava by highlighting its counter-revolutionary character — an old imperialist measure also imposed on other revolutionary enclaves, such as Cuba — or circumvent state actors altogether by organizing direct international aid to Rojava’s people via leftist parties and sympathizers.
Unfortunately, the news from Rojava rarely makes it to the mainstream media, buried instead in a swamp of propaganda and fake news produced by Erdoğan’s cyber army. The news of the ethnic cleansing in Afrin has not been given center stage in the media, anywhere, for more than a year. So the international left must become a louder voice against the perpetuation of humanitarian disasters.
Both the United States and Russia should get out of Syria, and the international left should pressure the Assad regime to settle for a democratic program of the country’s transition to confederalism. It is crucial that a neutral and international peacekeeping force guarantees the peacefulness of such a transition for all inhabitants of Syria by barring the expansion of interventionist states already present in Syria, such as Turkey and Iran. Returning control of the province of Idlib, occupied at the moment by al-Qaeda affiliate Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, to a local civilian administration, is integral to such a transition plan. Finally, the international left should support the HDP’s peace process in Turkey, so that Erdoğan’s war machine is deprived of preemptive pretexts once and for all.
Rojava, the site of a remarkable peoples’ revolution, is on the brink of colonization and extermination. The international left must stand against it.
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SDF says will focus on liberation of Afrin, sleeper cells after ISIS defeat
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The General Military Council of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on Sunday said they would focus on the liberation of Afrin, which Turkey occupied in March last year, and combat Islamic State sleeper cells after the extremist group’s military defeat.
Among the SDF’s priorities after the Islamic State’s defeat isthe return of Afrin’s original inhabitants to their homes and an end to the demographic change in the region, the local Hawar News Agency (ANHA) reported.
The SDF leadership underlined in a statement that after the militant group is defeated, the Kurdish-led forces would focus on the elimination of sleeper cells through precise “military and security campaigns” with support from the US-led coalition.
It emphasized that the Islamic State is trapped in a small area in the Baghuz village and that the battle would end after they liberate prisoners and civilians from the extremist group.
The SDF also highlighted the importance of drying up the Islamic State’s “ideological and economic ground,” which the terrorists depend on.
Mustafa Bali, the head of the SDF media center, previously warned that the Islamic State as an ideology is not defeated yet.
“We, as the SDF, think that dealing with and finishing off the Islamic State militarily was the easy step, but now comes the more challenging phase,” he told Kurdistan 24.
In a meeting on Sunday, the SDF’s General Military Council discussed the future of northeastern Syria after the Islamic State’s defeat and the upcoming US withdrawal. Senior SDF leaders, such as Mazlum Kobani, the commander of the SDF, took part in the meeting.
In its statement, the General Military Council denied they are a danger to the Turkish state, underlining that Turkey is occupying Syrian territory, such as the town of Afrin, Al-Bab, Jarabulus, and Idlib.
Despite the occupation of Afrin and other cities, the SDF said they are ready “to solve problems with the Turkish state through dialogue and mutual respect,” noting they are ready to protect their areas “in any case of aggression.”
Regarding the establishment of a safe-zone or buffer zone under international supervision, the SDF said they would welcome it “to establish security and peace on our northern border.”
Senior US lawmakers and military officials are pressing America’s allies in Europe to commit hundreds of troops to create a buffer zone along Syria’s border with Turkey, Washington Post columnist Josh Rogin reported on Friday.
On relations with the Syrian government, the SDF military council said they are ready for dialogue in the framework of a united Syria, as long as it recognizes the special status of the SDF and constitutional recognition of the Democratic Autonomous Administration (DAA) of North and East of Syria.
Editing by Karzan Sulaivany
The Most Feminist Revolution the World Has Ever Witnessed
In Rojava, a Kurdish anarchist collective led by women is at the heart of the fight with ISIS, and behind a political upheaval putting equality front and centre.
Something extraordinary has happened in a corner of north-east Syria. It is a little-known story that defies the usual narratives about Syria or Assad, civil war or ISIS. It is nothing less than a political revolution, which bears important lessons for the rest of the world. In this revolution, women are in the vanguard, both politically and militarily, often leading the fight on the frontline and sacrificing their lives against the most atavistic and anti-woman enemy there is: the so-called Islamic State – or Daesh, as it is more derogatorily known.
This place is called Rojava, the Kurdish name for western Kurdistan, located in north-eastern Syria. After the collapse of the Assad regime in 2012, Kurdish parties began an extraordinary project of self-government and equality for all races, religions and women and men. I visited Rojava, in a personal capacity, in the summer of 2015 to try to understand what’s going on there for a documentary film about anarchism, which you can watch on iPlayer.
Few journalists visit this swath of land along the Turkish border, which is about half the size of Belgium. It’s difficult to reach and thus expensive, requiring a long journey from northern Iraq and a crossing of the Tigris by small boat onto Syrian soil. The Kurdish Regional Government of northern Iraq (KRG) is not sympathetic to the Kurds of Rojava, and makes access very difficult and sometimes impossible.
The few journalists who make it there tend to focus on the fight with ISIS, assuming that this is what most concerns western audiences. Rojava is safer than the main combat zones of Syria, but still suffers horrific suicide bombings, and western visitors would of course make a fine catch for Daesh kidnappers.
As a result, very little has been reported about the remarkable political experiment of Rojava.
What little commentary appears is often secondhand. It therefore frequently repeats earlier misconceptions or hostile propaganda put about, above all, by Turkey, which opposes the leading political party of the Rojava Kurds – the PYD – and the armed forces of Rojava, the People’s Self-Defence Units, which comprise the mostly male YPG and all-female YPJ. Nor does the political character of the Rojava revolution fit familiar pigeonholes; it is neither a nationalist Kurdish project for an independent state, nor is it Marxist or communist, nor driven by religious or ethnic motives.
Perhaps most remarkably – and, sadly, uniquely – this is perhaps the most explicitly feminist revolution the world has witnessed, at least in recent history. Previously, this area was home to traditional peasant norms, including child marriage and keeping women at home. These traditions have been overturned: child marriage, for instance, is now illegal. There are parallel women’s organisations in every field, ranging from the separate women’s militia, the YPJ, to parallel women’s communes and cooperatives. Self-defence is a principle of the Rojava revolution, which is why women are so active in the armed struggle – but the concept extends towards the right of self-defence against all anti-woman practices and ideas, including those of traditional society, not just the extreme violence of Daesh.
“From what I saw, this political transformation enjoyed widespread support from all: Kurds, Arabs, women and men, young and old. Why wouldn’t it? The whole point is to give everyone a say in their own government.”
In addition to ensuring complete equal rights for women, the feminist politics of Rojava aims to break down domination and hierarchy in every aspect of life, recasting social relations between all people regardless of age, ethnicity or gender, with the aim of achieving an ecologically and socially harmonious society. In terms of historical comparison, this project resembles most closely the short period of anarchism witnessed by George Orwell in Republican Spain during the Spanish civil war in the late 1930s. But the representatives of Rojava also reject the label of anarchism, even if much of the inspiration for this revolution came originally from an anarchist thinker from New York City, Murray Bookchin.
The political heart of the Rojava project is in the local communal assemblies, in which local people take decisions for themselves about everything that concerns them: healthcare, jobs, pollution… boys riding their bikes too fast around the village, as one woman complained about at an assembly I visited. Women and men are scrupulously given an equal voice. Women co-chair every meeting and every assembly. Non-Kurdish minorities, mostly Arabs but also Syriacs, Turkmen and Assyrians, are also given priority on the speaking list; at meetings I witnessed, interpreters were provided. This is self-government, where decisions for the village are taken by the village or region. If decisions cannot be made solely at the local level, representatives attend town or regional assemblies, but these representatives remain accountable to the communal level and may only offer views that are approved locally. It is a very deliberate attempt to keep decision-making as local as possible – a rejection of the top-down authority of the state.
Ironically, however, the inspiration for the revolution was very much top-down. Abdullah Öcalan, the leader of the PKK (the Kurdish guerrilla movement in Turkey), read Murray Bookchin’s works while in a Turkish jail on an island in the Sea of Marmara (where he remains). Once a Marxist-Leninist and a ruthless military leader, Öcalan became convinced that self-government without the state was the way forward for the Kurdish people. He moulded Bookchin’s philosophy for the Kurdish context, calling it “democratic confederalism”. The Syrian Kurdish PYD is closely associated with the PKK. Following Öcalan, its cadres adopted democratic confederalism and implemented it in Syria.
Some have accused the PYD of domineering tactics, particularly at the start of this democratic revolution. Such conduct has given room for critics unreasonably to dismiss the whole project. From what I saw, this political transformation enjoyed widespread support from all: Kurds, Arabs, women and men, young and old. Why wouldn’t it? The whole point is to give everyone a say in their own government – a radical innovation anywhere, let alone in Syria, a country long accustomed to dictatorship and repression. I spoke to many people at random. They were uniformly positive, and many argued that the Rojava model, of highly decentralised government, should be adopted in the whole of Syria and indeed beyond. But it’s also a work in progress. In some of the assemblies I attended, women and men sat separately, a mark of the journey from traditional practice that this revolution is still navigating.
The revolution has suffered considerable assault. Turkey opposes Rojava and has prevented all supplies, trade and humanitarian aid from crossing its border into the region. Today, Turkish forces are attacking the predominantly Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which subsumes the YPG/YPJ and Arab militias into a common anti-ISIS front. The SDF has been the most effective force in fighting ISIS and has driven it back across hundreds of miles of territory, at the cost of thousands of lives. Now, the SDF – led by a woman commander, Rojda Felat – has started the attack on ISIS’s “capital”, Raqqa. The SDF currently enjoys US and allied military support, primarily from the air but also from American and allied special forces on the ground.
Therefore, US and indeed western governments are involved in a grotesque contradiction in which they permit NATO “partner” Turkey to attack the SDF – their most important ally in the fight against ISIS – while also proclaiming unyielding commitment to defeating ISIS. Thanks to an almost total absence of press coverage, this absurdity attracts no controversy in western capitals. Kurds worry, with reason, that once Raqqa falls the US will abandon the Kurds to Turkish aggression. Indeed, with Turkish attacks against the SDF intensifying in northern Syria in a canton called Afrin, some argue that this betrayal has already begun.
The hypocrisies of international geopolitical manoeuvring, however, should not obscure the importance of the Rojava democratic revolution. Thanks to its horrific tactics, ISIS attracts the attention, but in fact it is Rojava that carries the more important message for those who care about democracy. Rojava offers an alternative and practical example where the people are in charge, and it works. Rather than replicate the disastrous centralised governments of Iraq and Assad’s Syria, Rojava’s self-governing institutions have proposed their model for the whole of Syria once the Assad dictatorship comes to an end – and indeed, Rojava has renamed itself the Democratic Federation of Northern Syria in order to emphasise its multi-ethnic character and its acceptance of Syria’s existing borders, another divergence from the lazy western presumption that “the Kurds” want their own separate state.
But thanks to Turkish hostility, representatives of the Democratic Federation are excluded from the UN talks about the future of Syria – an injustice in which the US, UK and others acquiesce. The UN continues to pretend that “the Kurds” are represented by a party that is in fact a proxy of the KRG in Iraq. It is telling that international officials – mostly men who have never visited the area – still prefer outdated ethnic stereotypes to the more accurate cosmopolitan and feminist character of this project.
Meanwhile, the Rojava model is no less relevant in the west, where few can claim that democracy is in good health, with disillusionment and right-wing reactionary extremism – and, indeed, overt hostility to women (expressed not only by Donald Trump) – both ascendant. There are scores of westerners who, like the International Brigade of the Republican forces in Spain, have gone to join YPG and YPJ ranks. Several have lost their lives, including in recent days a former Occupy Wall Street activist from New York City. Some of these brave men and women have been prosecuted on their return home, punished for their commitment to democracy and equality. All suffer from the misrepresentation of their struggle in much of the international press. In reporting the death of the young Occupy activist, the Washington Post described the Rojava revolution as “pseudo-Marxist”, when it is the very opposite. In this democracy, there is no place for the state, at all. The people govern, the antithesis of state communism.
Thousands of YPG and YPJ fighters have died for this cause. During my visit, I met Viyan, a young woman YPJ soldier, on the front line – a huge gravel berm that stretched from horizon to horizon across a barren plain in southern Syria. ISIS positions were a few hundred metres away. A rifle over her shoulder, she told me that never before in her country, or the region, had women been equal to men. Without equality for women, there could be no justice in society. She was prepared to die to defend this dispensation. Tragically, Viyan was killed several months after our interview, fighting ISIS in the town of Al-Shaddadi.
Our film about the search for a better democracy is dedicated to her.
Carne Ross’s documentary film, Accidental Anarchist, is available to watch on iPlayer. This article represents his personal views only.
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Do not abandon us now, Kurdish leader tells the West as Isil battle draws to a close
Children of foreign Isil members risk becoming the next generation of jihadists if they are left in Syria, a senior Kurdish official has warned.
Unrepentant parents, such as Shamima Begum, could radicalise their children in sprawling Syrian desert camps, where security forces could lose track of them.
Ilham Ahmed, co chair of the Syrian Democratic Council, the political wing of the Syrian Democratic Forces, said Britain must repatriate citizens who traveled to Syria or be prepared to commit “significant” resources to trying and detaining them in Syria.
“Them remaining in our area is a huge liability,” she told the Telegraph.
“We have fulfilled our duties. We have captured them and we have held them. We are now making sure they don’t escape,” said Ms Ahmed.
“Here in the West you have all the opportunities to try them. You have courts, you have the laws, you have prisons. All the means to give these people a trial and convict them… on behalf of these governments that these people are citizens of, ” said Ms Ahmed.
About 4,000 women and children from Isil families are currently being held in camps by the SDF, including Ms Begum, the 19-year-old from Bethnal Green who has said she has no regrets about joining the terror group.
Ms Ahmad said Ms Begum’s attitude was typical of many detainees.
“The majority of them say that – that they don’t have any regrets. And you can see that in the way they raise their children: they raise them in the ideology of Isil, and they still think that ideology is correct,” she said in an interview in London.
“That’s why it is not just enough to take these people back. They also need to be treated. The children, they need special care. So do the mothers.”
“The alternative would be that we receive a lot of support and assistance in trying these people in our region, in terms of courts, in turns of legal procedures and so on.”
Donald Trump, the US president, last week called on European governments to repatriate an estimated 800 foreign members of Isil who have been taken prisoner in Syria.
But Theresa May’s spokesman rebuffed the American suggestion on Monday, saying the fighters should be put on trial in places where they committed their crimes.
“Foreign fighters should be brought to justice in accordance with due legal process in the most appropriate jurisdiction,” Downing Street said. “Where possible, this should be in the region where the crimes had been committed.”
France and Germany have also rejected the idea, citing the difficulty of securing sufficient evidence and witness testimony to guarantee prosecutions.
Isil’s last redoubt in the eastern Syrian village of Baguz is expected to fall to the SDF and coalition forces imminently. Ms Ahmed is one of a number of senior Kurdish leaders taking part in a diplomatic blitz to convince Western governments not to abandon the SDF when it does.
They fear Mr Trump’s announcement in December that he will withdraw US forces from Syria will open space for a resurgence of Isil sleeper cells and allow Turkey to launch an attack on Kurdish forces.
“We do not even want to talk about the prospect of withdrawal without security guarantees,” she said. “We want aerial protection so there are no airstrikes. And we’d like to see observation on the border. We are concerned about a Turkish military attack.”
“We are now experiencing the last days before the announcement of the end of the operation. But after that we expect to begin a new process of getting rid of these sleeper cells and getting rid of other elements of Isil, and for that we will continue to need support,” she went on.
“In Raqqa there are daily explosions, kidnappings, and violence. Likewise in Deir Ezzor. So these things are still happening.”
Turkey considers the YPG, the Kurdish armed group that forms the core of the SDF, a terrorist organisation.
In December, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the president of Turkey, threatened to launch a military operation to “wipe out terror groups east of the Euphrates.”
Ms Ahmed said Mr Trump had been supportive about the idea of a security zone when she met him in January, but that he had not mentioned any details. Kurdish leaders have rejected a proposal for a Turkish-controlled 30 kilometre “security area” inside Syria.
Turkey is a key Nato member and regional power, putting the United States and other coalition members, including Britain, in the uncomfortable position of choosing between two allies.
Ms Ahmed said the SDF could seek accommodation with Bashar al-Assad’s government and his Russian allies if Western coalition partners fail to guarantee security against potential Turkish attack.
“One solution could be regional protection forces in the north could become part of a new Syrian army – and note that I said ‘new’ Syrian army. It could not be under the current status quo, but if there is a new structure within the framework of a political solution.
“In the light of sudden announcements of withdrawals, without guarantees, without leaving us any kind of means to do things another way, this could be a solution,” she said.
Such an arrangement could be part of a proposed post-war constitutional settlement that Kurdish groups have drawn up as the fighting in Syria draws to a close.
Under the plan, powers would be devolved to the regions, and local parliaments would have representatives in Damascus. The rights of minorities and gender equality would be written into the constitution and Assad’s fate would be decided by an election.
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Syrian Kurdish leader: border force needed to protect us from Turkey
Ilham Ahmed says Kurds want allies from anti-Isis coalition on border to ensure Turkey does not attack
The leader of the Syrian Kurds has called for a small international observer force to be stationed on the Turkey-Syria border to protect Kurds from what she says is the threat of crimes against humanity committed by Turkish forces.
Ilham Ahmed is co-chair of the Syrian Democratic Council – the political arm of the US-backed and Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which have been responsible for liberating much of north-eastern Syria from Islamic State.
Described as one of the most powerful women in Syria, Ahmed is leading a Kurdish delegation touring Washington, Paris and London to persuade western countries not to betray the Kurds by leaving them exposed to the threat of a Turkish attack.
Ahmed said a final SDF assault on the last Isis redoubt would finish within days. Plans requiring “time and patience” were being drawn up to eradicate sleeper cells, she said.
She was speaking in the wake of the shock announcement by Donald Trump that 2,000 US troops will leave north-west Syria on the basis that Isis had been defeated.
Ankara views the Kurdish forces in Syria as a terrorist threat and an extension of the Kurdish separatist movement within Turkey’s own borders.
The Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has repeatedly warned America that a Turkish military operation against the US-backed Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) in Manbij is near. “Our patience is not limitless, he said over the weekend. “If the terrorists are not removed from Manbij within a few weeks, our waiting period will end.”
Ahmed said: “After all that has happened, if there is an attack, we will regard those that remain silent in the face of those threats as guilty of crimes against humanity.
“It is not just there will no longer be any trust in the coalition forces who we have fought alongside, and that their credibility will have been lost forever. It will mean the emergence of very big wars in this area.
“Any attempt by the Turkish state to establish a safe zone in the north of Syria will be an occupation, and no matter that the Turkish state wants to convince others that it will be a force for calm in the region, this is not what will happen.
“We saw this in Afrin last year as they tried to erase our culture and remove people from their homes. Huge massacres have been committed by the Turks. A further attack will only bring more war, displacement, occupation and an attempt to destroy our culture.”
An international protection force would provide aerial defence, she said, but “we would like to see an international power on the border as observers to ensure that Turkey does not attack”.
The force would be composed of “states that have actively participated in the war against IS, and the UN should also play a role”, she said. She added discussions were continuing now on the size and composition of the force, but it could be a symbolic number.
She also said Kurds were willing to put foreign fighters on trial in Kurdish Syria if they were given major international support on the legal procedures. “It would be better if they were tried in their own countries,” she added.
She said 800 to 900 Isis foreign fighters were currently held in prison by the Kurds and about 4,000 wives and children in refugee camps. She said: “We have not said we will let the fighters go, but if the Turks attack then it is true we will be fighting for our own existence and it is possible we may not be able to keep them under control and they may return to Europe. That is also at stake when we talk about an attack by the Turkish state.”
Ahmed denied the Kurds were actively discussing forming a security alliance of convenience with the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, if the West decided it could not protect the Kurds from a Turkish assault.
“The regime has shown no signs of interest in a meaningful dialogue with us about Syria’s future,” she said.
Any such dialogue would require a change by the regime, including agreement to a political solution about the future of a federated and unified Syria.
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America’s Kurdish allies risk being wiped out – by Nato
Turkey is seen as the Kurds’ mortal enemy but it uses German tanks and British helicopters: this is an international outrage
Remember those plucky Kurdish forces who so heroically defended the Syrian city of Kobane from Isis? They risk being wiped out by Nato.
The autonomous Kurdish region of Rojava in Northeast Syria, which includes Kobane, faces invasion. A Nato army is amassing on the border, marshaling all the overwhelming firepower and high-tech equipment that only the most advanced military forces can deploy. The commander in chief of those forces says he wants to return Rojava to its “rightful owners” who, he believes, are Arabs, not Kurds.
Last spring, this leader made similar declarations about the westernmost Syrian Kurdish district of Afrin. Following that, the very same Nato army, using German tanks and British helicopter gunships, and backed by thousands of hardcore Islamist auxiliaries, overran the district. According to Kurdish news agencies, the invasion led to over a 100,000 Kurdish civilians being driven out of Afrin entirely. They reportedly employed rape, torture and murder as systematic means of terror. That reign of terror continues to this day. And the commander and chief of this Nato army has suggested that he intends to do to the rest of North Syria what he did to Afrin.
I am speaking, of course, of president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who is, increasingly, Turkey’s effective dictator. But it’s crucial to emphasize that these are Nato forces. This not only means they are supplied with state-of-the-art weaponry; it also means those weapons are being maintained by other Nato members.
Fighter jets, helicopter gunships, even Turkey’s German-supplied Panzer forces – they all degrade extremely quickly under combat conditions. The people who continually inspect, maintain, repair, replace, and provide them with spare parts tend to be contractors working for American, British, German or Italian firms. Their presence is critical because the Turkish military advantage over Northern Syria’s “People’s Defense Forces” (YPG) and “Women’s Defense Forces” (YPJ), those defenders of Kobane that Turkey has pledged to destroy, is entirely dependent on them.
That’s because, aside from its technological advantage, the Turkish army is a mess. Most of its best officers and even pilots have been in prison since the failed coup attempt in 2016, and it’s now being run by commanders chosen by political loyalty instead of competence. Rojava’s defenders, in contrast, are seasoned veterans. In a fair fight, they would have no more problem fending off a Turkish incursion than they had driving back Turkish-backed Jihadis in the past.
A “fair fight” in this case would mean having access to anti-tank and anti-air weapons. But this is precisely what the Trump administration promised Turkey it would not let the Kurds have. Even those forces directly working with the US and British troops to defeat Islamic State were never to receive the defensive weapons needed to fend off the Turkish air and armored assault that would inevitably follow – which, if Afrin is anything to go by, may be backed by napalm and cluster bombs.
The moment those forces are withdrawn, however, their former allies will be sitting ducks, unable to defend themselves against the advanced weaponry that Britain and the US themselves help provide to Turkey and maintain.
Typically, the western media treats Turkey as some kind of peculiar rogue state whose periodic outbursts of violence directed at Kurdish civilians – the bombing and destruction of its own south-eastern cities in 2015, the reported ethnic cleansing of Afrin, and the ongoing attacks on villages in Iraq – must be tolerated lest it aligns with enemies like Iran or Russia. Similarly, pundits and politicians seem to whistle and look the other way as Erdoğan arrests or jails tens of thousands of people, including teachers, journalists and elected parliamentarians for saying things he doesn’t like – or even when or even when he publicly declares that “no European in any part of the world can walk safely on the streets” if they defy him.
But Turkey is not a rogue state. Turkey is Nato. Its army guards Europe’s eastern flank. Its police and security forces are charged with halting the flow of refugees from Middle Eastern wars to Europe – which increasingly involves opening fire with machine guns on refugees at the border – a service for which it is paid millions of euros in direct compensation.
It is only because Turkey is a member of Nato that its government managed to have the Kurdish guerrillas of the PKK (the Kurdish Worker’s Party), the guerrilla insurgents that have been fighting for autonomy in south-east Turkey since the 1990s, placed on the “international terror list” in 2004, at precisely the moment the PKK renounced demands for a separate state and offensive operations and attempted to enter into peace negotiations. It should be noted that this “terror” designation applies almost exclusively among Nato countries; the PKK is certainly not listed as a “terror” organization by the United Nations, India, China or even Switzerland.
It is because Turkey is Nato that the western press has to take seriously its bizarre claims that the experiment in feminist democracy underway in Rojava is itself a form of “terrorism”.
It is because Turkey is Nato, and guards Europe’s borders, that the US and European powers looked the other way or even expressed support when its army descended on the hitherto peaceful enclave of Afrin, in violation of all international law. As the Turkish army did so, it suggested it would not just to ethnically cleanse the Kurdish population and put an end to their own experiment with feminist democracy, but also to use the district to resettle the families of the most avid Islamist rebels who might otherwise have migrated to Europe.
It is because Turkey is Nato that the western press feels obliged to play along with the charade that it is an enemy of Isis, despite endless evidence of active Turkish collaboration with Isis, and the fact, known to everyone in the region, that Turkish “offensives” against Isis in Syria have largely consisted of bribing Isis commanders to switch sides.
As a result, we are left with the bizarre spectacle of “former” al-Qaida and Isis Jihadis working with Erdogan to fight the YPG as part of a 100,000-strong mercenary force. In addition, men like Seyf Ebu Bekir, who was an Isis commander when it was carrying out its notorious Paris nightclub massacres, are now commanders in the Turkey-backed Free Syrian Army. For his part, Ebu Bekir has warned France not to interfere with Turkish plans to unleash Nato forces to destroy Isis’s old Kurdish arch-enemies.
If all this is difficult to comprehend, it’s partly because so many of us – including many who fancy themselves “anti-imperialists” – seem to have forgotten how empires actually work. The British empire didn’t send British troops into combat very often either. Nato powers are arming and maintaining the security forces of their official ally, Turkey, to fly its Nato planes and drive its Nato tanks and shoot at refugees, in the same way Turkey is reportedly employing al-Qaida and Isis legions to do its dirty work of human wave attacks and ethnic cleansing. We have defanged the terrorists by, effectively, putting them on retainer, in much the same way Rome once employed Alaric the Goth, or the US, Osama bin Laden. And we know how well that worked out.
There are alternatives. International powers could lift the de facto Nato embargo that prevents the forces that defeated Isis from defending themselves. There are calls for an international no-fly zone, preferably on the authority of the UN security council, enforced by a country other than America – possibly France, or even Russia. This too would allow the YPG/J to fight on equal terms. Rojava’s defenders are perfectly capable of fending off the Turkish army if that army’s high tech advantage is neutralized.
In the long run, the Turkish government needs to stop reacting to those who have a different vision of how life could be lived by trying to murder them, and return to the peace table. The same could be said for Syria, where Rojava’s decentralized model could be key to resolving the conflict.
But for now, we need an urgent response to the risk faced by Kurds in Rojava. The situation is growing more dire by the day – and it is quite possible that Nato will soon conduct one of the worst genocidal massacres of the 21st century.
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US-backed forces ready to form international safe zone to protect all ethnic groups
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The US-backed, Syrian Kurdish-led forces say they are ready to help form an international-backed safe zone in northern Syria as long as there is no “foreign intervention,” in reference to a possible Turkish incursion.
In a statement on Wednesday, the General Command of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said they would “offer all the support and necessary aid to form the safe zone that is being circulated regarding the north and east of Syria.”
The statement said the safe zone would “ensure the protection of all ethnic groups and [protect] them from dangers of extermination through an international guarantee.”
It added that the safe zone would prevent foreign intervention by Turkey through “the protection of the components of the region and… factors of security and stability.”
According to the SDF, it has never posted “an external threat factor against any of the neighboring countries, especially Turkey, with which we hope to reach mutual understandings and solutions which would ensure the continued stability and security in the border regions (with it).”
The SDF statement added that since its establishment they had exerted all efforts to combat terrorism, including against the Islamic State and other radical organizations.
“We have achieved great successes in these difficult and painstaking missions, through work and coordination with our partners in the international coalition led by the United States.”
Different ethnic groups such as Kurds, Arabs, Turkmen, and Assyrians inhabit Syria’s northeast. Moreover, there are also Muslims, Christians, Yezidi’s, and other religious minorities living in the area.
According to the SDF, their primary task is to protect all ethnic components in northeast Syria. “We could almost say that our region is the only region in which all components of Syria coexist,” it stated.
On Monday, US President Donald Trump suggested in a tweet that a 20-mile “safe zone” would be created in northeastern Syria. A day later, his Turkish counterpart, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said Ankara would set up a security zone some 30-kilometers (18 miles) deep into northeastern Syria in coordination with Washington.
However, top Syrian Kurdish official Aldar Xelil told ANHA news agency that the Kurdish self-administration would not accept a Turkish-controlled safe zone.
“We would not accept that. We can accept a security area under the auspices of the UN,” but not Ankara, Xelil emphasized.
On Jan. 2, the chair of the German Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee argued that the UN should create a buffer zone to protect Syria’s Kurdish population.
Roderich Kiesewetter, a member of the ruling Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party, told German media outlet Deutschlandfunk in an interview that France and Germany could propose this idea in a UN Security Council meeting.
Meanwhile, Ibrahim Murad, the representative of the self-administration of North and East Syria in Germany, told Kurdistan 24 in early January that the international community should establish a no-fly zone.
“We hope the international states like the US, France, Germany, and the UK will prevent [a Turkish attack] and create a no-fly zone area for the people,” Murad said. “This would help us eradicate ISIS and find a solution to the Syrian conflict.”
Editing by Karzan Sulaivany
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Turkey rejects Trump adviser John Bolton’s Syria plan, insisting it will fight Kurdish militia
‘John Bolton made a serious mistake on this issue. Whoever thinks like that is making a mistake,’ says Recep Tayyip Erdogan
Hardline White House national security adviser John Bolton’s last-ditch attempt to secure his faction’s goals for a planned US withdrawal from Syria appeared to go down in flames on Tuesday as Turkey’s president rejected any protection for the Washington-allied Kurdish militia, and even refused to meet with the firebrand conservative.
Instead, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan took to the floor of parliament in Ankara, announcing that Turkish armed forces had “mostly completed our preparations for a military offensive against” Isis elements in Syria as per an agreement with US president Donald Trump forged last month.
“Likewise, we are determined to take our steps against terror organisations such as the PYD/YPG [Kurdish People’s Democratic Union and its allied militia and political organisation in Syria] along with Daesh [Isis],” he said. “We will act to neutralise those terror organisations in Syria very soon.”
Mr Bolton, a Washington fixture known for his hawkish foreign policy positions, arrived in Ankara with his own travelling press in an apparent attempt to convince Turkey to avoid attacking Syrian Kurds. He has also demanded that any US withdrawal be conditioned on Iranian-backed forces leaving Syria, and steps put in place for the political change in Damascus.
Instead, Mr Bolton left Ankara without even meeting Mr Erdogan, who was cited by the pro-government Daily Sabah newspaper as insisting “his busy schedule prevented him from meeting” Mr Bolton, whose public positions have contradicted those of his boss and US secretary of state Mike Pompeo, who is also visiting the Middle East.
Mr Bolton and anti-Isis envoy Jim Jeffrey, arriving after a visit to Israel, met privately with Mr Erdogan’s senior adviser Ibrahim Kalin, who helped organise a 14 December phone call in which Mr Trump agreed to withdraw 2,000 or more US troops from Syria and hand control of anti-Isis efforts to Turkey.
Meanwhile, Mr Erdogan publicly hammered Mr Bolton.
“It is not possible for us to accept and swallow the message that Bolton gave from Israel,” he told lawmakers. Turkey, along with most independent analysts and US intelligence agencies, considers the YPG inseparable from the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, an outlawed separatist organisation deemed a terrorist group by Ankara, the US and Europe.
“If the US evaluates them as ‘Kurdish brothers’ then they are in a serious delusion,” Mr Erdogan said, in a televised speech interrupted by chants of “allahu akbar”, or God is great, by supporters. “John Bolton made a serious mistake on this issue. Whoever thinks like that is making a mistake.”
Many have voiced doubt over Turkey’s ability to fight Isis in Syria without continuing US air and intelligence support. But in a New York Times opinion piece published on Monday, Mr Erdogan spelt out Turkey’s plans for Isis-controlled Syria, noting that Turkish troops and allied local fighters left northern Syrian towns they liberated from extremists in far better shape than the US aerial bombardments that destroyed Raqqa and Mosul in their efforts to dislodge the jihadi group in 2017 and 2018.
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YPG: 2422 Turkish soldiers and mercenaries killed in 2018
YPG Press Office announced that 2422 members of the occupant Turkish army and allied mercenaries were killed during 2018 while 544 YPG fighters were martyred.
The Press Office of People’s Defense Units (YPG) released the balance sheet of resistance for 2018.
Full text of the YPG statement is as follows;
“People of Kurdistan, who have been fighting the good fight to protect basic values of humanity and particularly of the peoples of middle east, have again spearheaded the fight against evil in form of ISIS recently. Our people and fighters have fought have been fighting against ISIS barbarism and Turkish invasion and putting up a legendary resistance.
Our struggle today has turned into a legendary resistance which includes hundreds of internationalist fighters from all over the world and is ensuring co-existence of peoples in North Syria and Rojava Kurdistan. 2018 has become a year in which our struggle made a great progress and came to a prominence in region. At a time ISIS is on the brink of collapse, our people had to fight against invasion attempts by Turkey. The outcome of the battles and resistance by our fighters throughout the year is s follows;
1- Outcome of the resistance of Afrin which began on July 20 and ended in March 18
Airstrikes: 1098
Heavy weapons attacks: between 3577 and 4000
Engagement: 900
Operations with unclear results: 176
Destroyed military vehicles and aircrafts: 2 combat helicopters, 2 unmanned aerial vehicles, 122 military vehicles, 2 car bombs, 1 motorcycle
Damaged military vehicles: 32 (tanks, APCs, armoured vehicles)
Civilians killed: 224 (51 children, 42 women)
Civilians injured: 650 (87 children, 93 women)
Killed Turkish soldiers and mercenaries: 2422
544 fighters were martyred during the resistance as result of intense airstrikes and engagements with the occupying forces.
2- Outcome of the second phase of resistance of Afrin, which began on March 18, is as follows
Our units in Afrin have carried out 147 operations against Turkish invasion army and its jihadist proxies. As result of assassination, raid, ambush and bombing actions;
– 350 terrorists have been killed (65 Turkish soldiers and 258 mercenaries)
– 18 AK-47, 1 MG-3 machine gun, 2 pistols along with a large amount of ammunition have been captured
– The results of 5 operations couldn’t be clarified
– 36 military vehicles, 1 APC, 1 pick-up, 3 motorcycles, 1 HQ and T55 tank were destroyed; 4 military vehicles have been damaged
– Turkish invasion army has carried out large scale combing operations with the participation of hundreds of its mercenaries and under protection of air cover in Afrin 13 times. All of the operations have been retreated without achieving any results.
– Since March 18, 56 fighters, including 16 fighters of YPJ, were martyred in airstrikes. 1 of our fighters was injured and another fighter was captured in a state of being heavily injured.
3- During 2018, occupying Turkish army attacked the bases and positions of our fighters and civilian settlements, violating the borders.
– Turkish invasion army has attacked positions of our fighters and civilian settlements 53 times
– 13 civilians (3 children) were injured, 2 civilians (1 child) were killed in the attacks.
– 2 Sanadid forces fighters, 2 Self Defense forces fighters and 2 journalists were injured.
– An UAV of Turkish army was captured by our fighters in Kobani.
– Our forces retaliated to all the attacks according to engagement rules and legitimate self defense. 2 soldiers were killed in operations by our forces.
4- During 2018, counter-terrorism units (YAT) have carried out 45 operations against ISIS and other sleeper cells across Rojava and northern Syria. Special Operation Teams have also conducted 590 operations.
– 107 ISIS terrorists including 5 foreigners were captured in the operations
– 204 ISIS members, including 2 leaders and 31 terrorists of other sleeper cells that were preparing for attacks were killed.
– 161 ISIS members were injured
– 55 attacks were foiled
– 6 Yazidi women and a child were rescued from ISIS
– 25 vehicles and a motorcycle were destroyed, 8 vehicles were damaged
– Our units have confiscated a large amount of explosive, 1345 mines, 2 car bombs, 35 missiles, 3 tank shells, 11 mortars and their shells, 126 SPG-9 shells, 575 AK-47, 3 LAV weapons and 2 rockets, 3 12.7mm DShK machine guns, 6 14.5mm ZPU machine guns, M2 Browning ammunition, 6 A4, 40 BKC, 12 Dragunov sbiper rifles, 15 G3 rifles, 17 M16 rifles, 27 RPG and 267 warheads, 1004 grenades, 121 suicide vests, 7 binoculars, 11 pistols and their ammunition, 4 radio devices, 19 cell phones.
5- 2018 has been a long year with resistance and fierce battles across Rojava and northern Syria. 894 fighters were martyred during 2018; 600 in Afrin, 201 during operation Jazeera Storm, 61 as result of traffic and other accidents, 20 as result of illness, 7 during mine clearing operations in Raqqa and due to attacks by Turkish invasion army on borders 5 of our comrades were martyred.”
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“Stand Together Outside the State”: Int. Commune of Rojava Interview
The Rojavan Revolution has inspired us over the years; from the fierce resistance to ISIS and Turkish fascism, to its rejection of patriarchy and statism. But with the US saying that it will soon be pulling out of the region, many are left wondering what the future holds for the autonomous territories. Wanting to know more, we spoke with someone from Internationalist Commune, the authors of the Resistance is Life column here on IGD, to learn more.
IGD: What are your thoughts on the US withdrawing from Syria?
IC: When the news of Trump’s decision broke, many of us internationalists in Rojava were frantically checking the news, scrambling to prepare new work, calling one another up and discussing what this would mean for the millions of civilians here, for the future of the revolution – for our lives.
I noticed that our Kurdish comrades reacted differently. They felt angry and betrayed, of course. But to them it was also something expected. The Kurdish freedom movement has 40 years’ experience of armed struggle against a ruthlessly self-serving capitalist state under the NATO banner, and the Kurdish people have known nothing but betrayal for centuries.
They never relied on anything but the strength and resilience of the Kurdish movement. This decision which shocked the world was met with a new surge of pride in what has been won here at such enormous cost. This is the attitude we must take forward into the coming struggle.
IGD: Is the US actively working with the Turkish State?
IC: A lot of media effort has been expended on which imperial powers are the ‘winners’ and ‘losers’ in the situation here though it changes every day, what the ‘Kurds’ ridiculously taken as a homogenous mass stand to gain, above all what Putin stands to gain from it all.
Some such analyses – like this from Lower Class Magazine – give an excellent picture of how the Kurdish movement has exploited the faultlines opened by the global power struggle between imperial powers, and how it now faces a severe test of its strength as these interests realign against the democratic-confederalist project.
But I have no special insight into what has been said behind closed doors in the last days and years between the various imperialist forces vying to suck the life out of this land. The Americans did what they did. Now our task is clear: to resist the massacre Turkey is threatening by any means necessary.
IGD: Many people are afraid that ISIS will join with Turkish forces and attack Rojavan territories, as it did in the invasion of Afrin. How has the YPG/YPJ responded to this reality?
A couple of days ago, false news was once again released by world news agencies, spreading the propaganda statements of imperialist forces as though they were objective fact – this time, that the Syrian state army had entered into the center of the city of Manbij. When this news arrived in Manbij, the response of the local population was not to panic or flee but to flood en mass into the city center, singing the songs of the Kurdish resistance.
This is the crucial point. Not only the Kurdish-led YPG and YPJ, but also Arab, Turkmen and Assyrian Christian militias united with YPG/J under the banner of the Syrian Democratic Forces are ready to fight Turkey every inch of the way. Turkey talks of making a so-called “security belt” which would obliterate all of the major cities in Rojava, where millions of people have been making a free and democratic life together under constant threat of Turkey’s cowardly carpet-bombing war. YPG/J is a people’s army and the people will never accept the destruction of their homes, their communes, all that has been created here.
If the Turkish state really does launch a full-scale assault, it will take nothing short of genocide to drive the people from these lands. But as we have seen time and again, the Turkish state is quite capable of such atrocities. Tens of thousands of martyrs have given their lives for this revolution. Whether tens of thousands more must also die remains to be seen.
IGD: Many people in the US and beyond have wondered what to do in light of the current situation. Should we be calling on the US not to leave or should we be finding material ways to support?
IC: It is right that the American people, in particular, rise up against this cowardly decision by their leader. But as internationalists we must stand together outside these lines of state force, with the tireless conviction of our Kurdish comrades.
To be precise: we need serious anti-fascist mobilization against entities linked to Turkish power and interests at home in the West. We need that 3.5 billion dollar Patriot missile sale to Turkey, made in the days before Trump told Erdogan he was pulling out, to be taken down as a message to the Turkish state. We need comrades and journalists to travel here and put their lives on the line.
This revolution’s survival will not be ensured by begging western governments for favors. But the burden on the shoulders of the Kurdish liberation movement will be lightened when Turkey is made accountable for its atrocities, when it is made impossible for other capitalist states to make their dirty deals with this war-criminal state.
IGD: What things are Internationalist Commune working on in the midst of this reality?
IC: Our main focus now is on spreading the news of what is happening and may happen here, seizing back the narrative from our enemies. So much of what is written and said about here, even by our supporters, is framed as though Rojava is a black box about whose people and material reality nothing can be known, just another pawn on the chessboard middle-east.
“we are working together with Kurdish and other local comrades in the media structures here to counter Turkish propaganda and spread the truth of the revolution as best we can.”
As the internationalist commune, we feel a responsibility to combat this, and to make what is happening here and how it will affect millions of real, struggling people if Turkey does invade. We want to bring their voices and the message of the Kurdish liberation movement into the west.
The Turkish state employs a cyber-army of 6,000 social media trolls disseminating their propaganda, and spends millions on lobbying foreign governments each year. Sometimes it can feel like all we have to counter this is a handful of comrades with limited media experience and a few busted-up laptops. But we are working together with Kurdish and other local comrades in the media structures here to counter Turkish propaganda and spread the truth of the revolution as best we can.
IGD: What are some key news sources/website people can follow to get news on the unfolding situation?
IC: We will share as much as we can from our facebook at Internationalist Commune, twitter @communeint and website internationalistcommune.com.
For in-depth analyses in touch with the thought of the Kurdish movement, the Komun Academy website is great. The Region is another site whose reports are generally in touch with what’s going on here and can put them in a larger political perspective.
If you follow the Kurdish academic Dilar Derik (DilAr on Facebook), you will see a lot of well-selected articles and analyses. Dr. Hawzhin Azeez on Twitter here is another example of this.
If you’re looking for a journalist external for the movement who has up-to-date and accurate information and understands what’s going on here better than most, Wladimir Van Wilgenburg (@vvanwilgenburg) is a prolific and useful source.
A few other accounts on the ground in Rojava who are in touch with what’s going on here: @zana_med (especially good and will debunk incorrect information when it’s spread), @HosengHesen, @riseupforafrin, @starcongress.
IGD: Anything else you’d like to add or touch on?
IC: We think it is vital that Turkey’s coming assault is not understood as ‘just another part of the Syrian Civil War’, as it is currently being discussed in our voyeuristic yet ultimately weary and disinterested mainstream press. The death of any civilian anywhere in Syria is a tragedy, of course. But what is happening here is far larger than that.
“The choice between socialism and barbarism was never more stark than here and now.”
Total war against Rojava would not just be the crushing of the revolution here, but of forty years’ ceaseless toil under circumstances of brutal repression across all four parts of Kurdistan. This is a war against the woman, against the right of all peoples to self-determination, against one of the world’s only flames of resistance against state-capitalist might. The choice between socialism and barbarism was never more stark than here and now.
Comrades, with pride in our own strength and knowledge that we are stronger still together, knowing that our enemies are strong but knowing too that they can never grasp the strength and beauty of solidarity forged in resistance, we ask for your support.
Syria: Turkey must stop serious violations by allied groups and its own forces in Afrin
By Davide Grasso
A woman holds a picture of PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan during a rally in Afrin (Reuters) 
YPG and US soldiers have fought side by side against IS in Syria. But the US says it has no interests in Afrin (AFP) 
Turkish tanks are transported to the border with Afrin (Reuters) 
Comrade Fîraz came to the conclusion that the freedom and hope of a free life were under the philosophy of the Freedom Movement and Leader Apo. He was in search of the free life and found it in Leader Apo’s ideas. Although Fîraz grew up in England, one of the centres of the capital system, nothing but revolutionary life could satisfy him. So, on his way to the source of free ideas, he came to his country. Comrade Fîraz, who could not accept for himself a life in the midst of Modern Slavery, headed to Rojava in order to record the Kurdistan Revolution into history with a pen and camera.
by Zaher Baher
UK
