A-Infos (en) France, UCL AL #334 - International, Kurdistan: Bringing the Revolution to life, thwarting the Turkish trap (ca, de, it, fr, pt, tr)[machine translation]

The revolution underway in Rojava is the target of the totalitarian regimes of 
Erdogan in Turkey and the mullahs in Iran. The same hatred in them of freedom and 
emancipation. And while the West looks the other way, the repression escalates. 
---- As we go to press, the Iran of the Ayatollahs has just arrested Taraneh 
Alidoosti, a famous actress, as well as the lawyer Mohammad Ali Kamfirouzi, 
defender of journalists imprisoned by the regime. The relationship with 
Kurdistan? That of the collusion of tyrannies who are not mistaken when it comes 
to questioning their authority. That again of the convergence of dictatorships 
against the Kurds, who nevertheless never tire of giving the "the" of a 
self-managing, feminist, multi-ethnic emancipation. There is no error either on 
the side of the protest which takes up the slogan Jîn, Jiyan, Azadî, programmatic 
since 2006 in the ranks of Kurdish militancy and its allies.

Tehran invokes "incitement to chaos" as a charge against Iranian actress Taraneh 
Alidoosti. The Iranian state is doing this against the backdrop of the huge 
protest movement following the assassination of young Kurdish Mahsa Amini, which 
has shown no signs of slowing down since September 16. The mullahs know well the 
strength of the Kurdish movement. It is therefore no geopolitical coincidence 
that they consciously contribute to playing a role of lock in the device of 
encirclement put in place by the Turks for a year, which puts the Kurdish 
revolution in immense danger.

Quasi permanent state of siege
In the aftermath of Daesh's defeat in 2019, Erdogan was staging a low-intensity 
war to stifle Kurdish resistance wherever he could find ways to circumvent or 
even disregard international law, including outside his own borders. Its logic: 
to besiege Kurdistan from Syria to Iraq, to erode Kurdish morale, to normalize 
the continual war.

The siege of the Kurdish positions is first organized in the west, in Syria. 
Since 2020 the pressure on Rojava has not ceased.
CC BY 2.0 Kurdishstruggle
Today, the pretext of the November 13 attack in Istanbul[1]is gaining ground for 
anti-Kurdish sentiment beyond the most reactionary Turkish fringe.

Two contextual elements dictate Erdogan's murderous timetable. First, the 
presidential election scheduled for June 2023, which will be the last run by the 
sultan in power for twenty years. Its challenges are to make people forget a 
lamentable economic management (84% inflation), to justify the regime's incessant 
violence against not only the Kurdish and Alevi minorities, but also against all 
the opposition, which inevitably ends up in prison, or worse.

The other deadline is that of the end of validity of the Treaty of Lausanne 
(1923), which theoretically gives back the possibility to the populations victims 
of the division of the Ottoman Empire to be able to decide their fate 
independently. If the game is obviously far from won, the end of the treaty 
renews the question of the borders of Kurdistan.

The siege of the Kurdish positions is first organized in the west, in Syria. 
Since 2020 the pressure on Rojava has not ceased. Erdogan had reactivated Daesh 
sleeper cells, unleashing them on villages in the region. Since April 2023, this 
tactic has been supplemented by drone attacks, targeted assassinations of Kurdish 
leaders, arrests of journalists - an all-out intensification.

State Terror as structural policy
Turkey obviously designates the PKK as responsible for the Istanbul attack[2]. 
And although the predominant feeling is that of an atrocious Turkish intox, on 
November 20 it launches 70 planes and drones which bombard schools, oil wells, 
grain silos, hospitals, not only in Rojava, but also on the front of the is, in 
Basur (Iraqi Kurdistan), causing about fifteen deaths and as many injuries[3].

To carry out these airstrikes, it is necessary to pass through Russian and 
American airspace. Erdogan necessarily benefited from the green light of the latter.

The whole arsenal of state terror goes into it: psychological warfare attacks the 
great symbols of resistance (Kobane), leaves the militias of Islamic State 
fanatics and Syrian auxiliaries to inspire horror (corps of militants charred, 
tortured). Not to mention the chemical weapon: if the proof is not yet formal, 
the suspicion of the experts seems almost proven[4]. Not to mention the diversion 
of the course of the Euphrates to make the people of Rojava thirsty and commit 
what a US general describes as "ethnic cleansing"[5].

Not so disinterested helpers

Still in Basur, the Turkish army entered more than 50 km inside the Iraqi 
borders, in complete defiance of protests from Baghdad[6], establishing more than 
36 bases there! It besieges the Qandil mountains, a traditional stronghold of the 
Kurdish resistance. Ankara further spoils the situation by largely financing the 
commercial development of the region controlled by its straw man, Massoud Barzani.

So if the people of Rojava are notoriously united and determined to defend their 
territory, they know what to expect since the attack in Istanbul. The Turkish 
strategy has affected Kurdish morale, especially among the youngest, who have 
many desires to leave the country.

CC BY-SA 2.0 Max Gerlach
Meanwhile, Iran is attacking Kurdish bases also in Iraq. The hour is particularly 
dark. The lockdown seems total.

And yet: the impact of the war in Ukraine will undoubtedly have pushed Biden to 
want to take advantage of the situation and play his own geopolitical card. 
Indeed, the delivery of heavy US artillery to Rojava in early December can be 
interpreted as a way of regaining a foothold in the region abandoned under the 
Trump mandate, to face both Putin and Erdogan.

Comments collected from a correspondent of the Kurdish diaspora in Europe are not 
mistaken: "America is helping us militarily... but our satisfaction is not based 
on this support intended to fight against Daesh. We have not asked permission to 
defend ourselves from anyone, we are fighting to establish democratic 
confederalism. How can we believe these countries that tore us to pieces (in 
1920)? we do not trust the United States but have hopes: as long as we have 
weapons to fight against the Turkish state. We only trust democratic 
confederalism and the peoples of the region."

More than ever, the Kurdish struggle needs our support, our commitment, here or 
there, so that this revolution, which looks so much like our projects for a 
libertarian, self-managing society, freed from patriarchy and capital, does more 
than survive. , but flourish !

Biji berxwedana Kurdistan !

Comments by anonymous Kurdish internationalists collected by Cuervo (UCL 
Aix-en-Provence)

To validate

[1]On November 13, the unclaimed attack killed 6 people and injured 80 on 
Istiqlal Street in Istanbul.

[2]The PKK has formally denied this and its strategy never includes attacks of 
this type.

[3]See rojavainformationcenter.com

[4]See "Chemical weapons in Kurdistan : Questions serious enough to justify an 
investigation" on Humanite.fr.

[5]"Colonel Caggins: Turkey is committing ethnic cleansing in northern Syria" on 
kurdistan-au-feminin.fr

[6]Read our press release of June 16, 2021, "Against the war in Iraqi Kurdistan, 
against the treachery of the PDK"

https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Kurdistan-Faire-vivre-la-Revolution-dejouer-le-piege-turc
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