Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) forces led by Ahmed al-Sharaa (al-Jolani) seized control of Syria a year ago with the backing of imperialist powers and their local collaborators, pushing the country deeper into chaos and unleashing an expanding wave of attacks against its ancient peoples. After targeting Alawites and Druze, HTS units are now, together with Turkey-backed Syrian National Army (SNA) fighters, attacking Kurdish neighborhoods in Aleppo openly displaying ISIS symbols on their uniforms.
In the Kurdish districts of Ashrafiyah (Eşrefiyê) and Sheikh Maqsoud (Şêxmeqsûd), these heavily armed groups have bombed hospitals and abducted civilians, while residents have been resisting for seven days. The timing of the assault has raised serious questions: it came as talks were continuing between the Syrian interim government and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) over the 10 March Agreement, at a moment when the SDF had announced its readiness to implement the 1 April Agreement, and immediately after a meeting between the interim government and Israel in Paris.
Newroz Uysal Aslan, a Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) MP for Şırnak (Şirnex) and one of the lawyers of Abdullah Öcalan, spoke to ANF about the attacks by jihadist groups on the Kurdish people and Turkey’s role in the unfolding events.
Interim government is trying to force the SDF into a deal
Newroz Uysal Aslan said the attacks by HTS and the SNA on Kurdish neighborhoods in Aleppo expose the Syrian interim government’s stance against the will of the Kurds.
The timing of the assault, launched after months of siege while talks over the 10 March Agreement was ongoing and as the SDF had announced they would abide by the 1 April Agreement regarding Ashrafiyah and Sheikh Maqsoud, underscored that the attacks carried a clear political message. Uysal said, “The most important factor here is that the interim government is trying to force the SDF to sign the 10 March Agreement on its own terms by disregarding Kurdish will and status. They are attempting to impose their demands through blackmail, threats, and intimidation. Secondly, the fact that these attacks on Kurdish neighborhoods came after the Paris meeting between the Syrian interim government and Israel shows that the interim government and Israel have aligned with a strategy, backed by Turkey, to push the Kurds east of the Euphrates. At the same time, talks between the interim government and the SDF on 3 January had announced that dialogue and negotiations would continue, yet the launch of these attacks shows that those commitments and talks have also been abandoned.”
An attack on two neighborhoods could ignite war across Syria
Newroz Uysal Aslan said the assaults by jihadist groups tied to the interim government on Ashrafiyah and Sheikh Maqsoud were attacks against all the peoples of Syria. Aslan also said: “The interim government offensive will not remain a war limited to just these two neighborhoods. These areas are home not only to Kurds and Arabs, but also to people displaced from Afrin (Efrîn) and to sections of the Yazidi community. Any attack on Yazidis there could trigger war and wider assaults across Syria as a whole. At the same time, it exposes how frightened those who claim to support stability, dialogue, and a democratic new constitutional order in Syria truly are. Taken together, this is alarming and infuriating, and it represents a step that stands outside any political process and risks pushing the country deeper into war. That is why we are following these developments closely and with deep concern.”
Turkey is running the process in parallel with developments in Syria
Uysal said the launch of these attacks at a time when a process on the Kurdish question is under way in Turkey was highly significant and continued: “The fact that the process in Turkey is being conducted in parallel with developments in Syria is no longer just an interpretation; it is a reality. When we look at the statements coming from the President, from ministries, from Numan Kurtulmuş, who heads the commission running this process, and from others, it becomes clear that one of the main pillars of the current peace and democratic society process is the new order being shaped in the Middle East. The most important place where the direction of that order can be seen is Syria, and within Syria, Rojava, because of the position of the Kurds there. Both Mr. Öcalan’s stance on this issue and the position taken by the state are already clear.”
Any peace with the Kurds must be comprehensive
Uysal also said: “If there is to be reconciliation with the Kurds, it must be with Kurds as a whole, not only with those in Turkey. We made this clear from the very beginning, especially during the period when ISIS attacks first began. We have consistently said that the Turkish state must show a sincere and serious approach, not one marked by ambivalence, double standards, or competing political agendas. Claiming brotherhood and peace while at the same time denying Kurds in Rojava, in Syria, any form of status, reinforcing anti-Kurdish politics there, and strengthening anti-Kurdish military positions is unacceptable. We have stated this many times. Yet when we look at the overall picture of the past three to four months, we can see just how closely this issue is tied to developments in Syria. The extension of the commission’s work and the debates over whether the 10 March Agreement will be implemented show how directly this process is linked to what is happening in Syria. Despite our repeated insistence that the situation in Syria is not against Turkey’s interests, but in fact in its favor, Turkey continues to pursue a Middle East without Kurds and a politics in Turkey without Kurds. Even if this agenda is not openly declared, the messages and the subtext of official statements all point in that direction.”
None of these statements align with the process
Newroz Uysal Aslan said the statements issued by the Ministry of National Defense were marked by both disinformation and manipulation. Uysal said: “The level of disinformation is so extreme that even the civilians who were killed or wounded are portrayed as if they had been harmed by internal security forces. There is a mindset that wants this war to expand and even says it would support that expansion. None of this, none of these statements or narratives, align with the process we are currently in. On the contrary, they empty it of meaning and present it as a stance and strategy that works against the Kurds.”
Even Kurdish voices against attacks on Kurds are being silenced
Police had attacked a statement and march they sought to hold days earlier in Cizre (Cizîra) in Şırnak to demand an end to the civilian massacres in Kurdish neighborhoods of Aleppo, and Uysal said the incident itself showed whom the state was protecting and how it was approaching the situation. She said: “Why would the Turkish state prevent Kurds from speaking out against attacks on Kurds? Either it is complicit, or it is supportive, or it is turning a blind eye, or it wants this to continue. That position does not match either the process that is supposedly under way or the story of brotherhood they keep telling. The people see these contradictions clearly. Despite all this, we have insisted on peace and on continuing this process, and we still say that the parties must return to dialogue and negotiation, and that this issue cannot be resolved through war but through talks. Yet this is not just a matter of contradiction. It once again shows that Turkey is pursuing anti-Kurdish policies with a broader agenda across multiple arenas.”
Do not look for ISIS elsewhere
Newroz Uysal Aslan said the current Syrian interim government, which includes Turkey and is backed by international powers such as Britain and the United States, is made up of ISIS offshoots, even though it is being marketed around the world as legitimate.
She said these states were trying to impose their own political agendas, and that Turkey was at the forefront of that effort.
Many figures inside the current interim government have studied in Turkey, received salaries there, or belonged to groups backed by Ankara, and Uysal said four groups were responsible for the assaults on the two neighborhoods in Aleppo (Halab). Uysal also said: “Although these four groups are presented as battalions of the general staff within the interim government, their clothing, their methods of attack, their ideology, and the communities they target all show that they operate with an ISIS mindset,” she said. “They are openly wearing ISIS emblems on their uniforms. These are the same groups that have carried similar insignia, armbands, and bandages during previous attacks on Druze and Alawites, not only now in Aleppo but before as well. If the anti-ISIS coalition is silent about what is happening here today, the issue is not that the group has changed its name. The entire international coalition itself admits that ISIS is changing its name and its mask. This is that mask. ISIS itself is carrying out these attacks today. This is where the mask has been exposed. And the fact that Turkey is involved in these assaults is beyond dispute.”
Stopping the killing while denying Kurdish status is not enough
Newroz Uysal Aslan said the reality now emerging must be confronted honestly. Uysal said: “Statements have been issued by the United Nations and by the foreign ministries of many countries about the attacks on Kurds in Aleppo, but this approach, stop the killing while refusing to recognize Kurdish status, is not acceptable. Kurds who have no recognized status or identity are always left facing the risk of massacre. That is exactly the situation in Rojava today. The refusal to grant recognition or status is now being punished, and a message is being sent. The Kurds have received that message, but the people who have led the struggle there for the past twelve to thirteen years will remain the ones who decide its course. We are reading and following the statements of the forces present there. Calls are being made for the attacks to be stopped, and for those who describe themselves as an international coalition and as mediators to prevent further violence. Kurds are standing in Turkey, in Europe, in Rojava, and in many other places. Remaining silent or acting as mere spectators in the face of this assault is not an option.”