On 6 January, groups affiliated with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) under the Damascus interim government, together with Turkish-state-backed mercenaries from al-Amshat (Suleiman Shah Division), al-Hamzat (Hamza Division), the Sultan Murad Division, and the Nour al-Din Zengi Brigade, launched large-scale attacks on the Sheikh Maqsoud (Şêxmeqsûd), Ashrafieh (Eşrefiyê) and Bani Zed (Benî Zêd) neighborhoods of Aleppo. In these attacks, more than eighty tanks and forty-five thousand mercenaries brought from across Syria were deployed. In response, the Internal Security Forces put up historic resistance, while Kurds across all four parts of Kurdistan voiced strong reactions.
Ahmet Dogan, Co-Chair of the Democratic Regions Party (DBP) in Diyarbakir (Amed), spoke to ANF about the attacks on Rojava: “We are filled with deep anger in the face of these attacks against our people in Rojava. For a week, what unfolded in the region was nothing short of brutality. Around four hundred thousand people were living in the neighborhoods of Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafieh where the attacks took place. As is known, an agreement was signed on 1 April, under which the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) withdrew from the area, leaving only the Internal Security Forces.
Approximately forty-five thousand mercenaries affiliated with HTS attacked these neighborhoods for a week with tanks and heavy artillery. In these attacks, civilians, children, women and the elderly were targeted without distinction. We were faced with a massacre that fits no moral or human value. We all saw it: a young woman was thrown from the third floor by the mercenaries. This is open barbarism.
We have known the practices of ISIS very well for the past fifteen years. What is happening today is a continuation of that mentality. While there is talk of a peace process in Turkey, the President’s recent statement, in which he said they were part of these attack plans, is striking. On the one hand you claim to be running a peace process with the Kurds, and on the other you attack the gains of the Kurdish people together with ISIS-like mercenaries. We do not accept this hypocrisy.”
Turkey must stop acting with mercenaries
Dogan continued by sharply condemning the Turkish state’s attacks on the gains won by the Kurds in Rojava.
He said: “It is truly very difficult to make sense of the hostility that the Turkish state is waging against the Kurdish people by acting together with mercenaries. Turkey knows very well the century-long project being pursued in the Middle East and keeps saying that its own turn will come. If they know that their turn will come, then they should also know that their only salvation is Mr. Öcalan.
Why do you persist in this hostility? What business do you have with mercenaries who trample human dignity? Even if the Kurdish people have withdrawn from Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafieh, they have shown a historic resistance. If you continue to act together with mercenaries, this oppression will ultimately come back to you as well. We know very well that the Kurds, no matter what, will achieve status.
The Kurdish people have never leaned on anyone; they have always relied on their struggle, their people, their courage and their politics. When the Turkish state makes peace with the Kurdish people and their leader Abdullah Öcalan, it will save both itself and its people. Let them know very well that Iran is next; when Iran falls, Turkey will be next in line.”
The only way out is the physical freedom of Öcalan
Ahmet Dogan added that resolving the wars in the Middle East depends on the physical freedom of Öcalan.
Dogan said: “Mr. Öcalan, the Kurdish People’s Leader, chose peace over war and offered peace to Turkey. For nearly twenty days, no meeting has been held with Mr. Öcalan. The reason for this is the attacks on Rojava. They do not want Mr. Öcalan to express his views. This is a serious mistake. Mr. Öcalan must meet as soon as possible. If Turkey continues with this policy, it will lose.
We call on the Turkish state to take ownership of this process. The freedom of Mr. Öcalan must be ensured as soon as possible. This is the only way out. This is the demand of the Kurdish people. We demand freedom from Öcalan. Mr. Öcalan must be able to express his views freely. Turkey’s acting together with mercenaries will bring it loss, not gain. The Middle East has fallen into a ring of fire. The Kurdish People’s Leader wants to pull Turkey out of this ring of fire. Let them know this very well.”