Mustafa Karasu, a member of the KCK Executive Council, issued a call to the Kurdish people and democratic forces asking them to resist the attacks on Rojava carried out by HTS and ISIS militias under the coordination and direction of the Turkish state.
Karasu said: “This attack is not only against Rojava, but against the entire Kurdish people,” and called on the Kurdish people and democratic forces to defend the Rojava Revolution.
The full text of Karasu’s message is as follows:
“To all Kurdish people, to the forces of democracy,
To all revolutionary democratic movements around the world!
At this moment, a heavy attack is being carried out against the Kurdish people in Rojava, in North and East Syria.
This is a people who, in 2014 and 2015, resisted ISIS attacks with great sacrifice; a people who turned themselves into a barricade against ISIS, a barricade for humanity, giving tens of thousands of martyrs and wounded. Today, this people, who fought and struggled for humanity, is being targeted by an international conspiracy, a conspiracy involving international powers, with the aim of crushing them and dismantling the democratic system they have built.
Right now, in Rojava and North and East Syria, beginning with Sheikh Maqsoud, there is an attack aimed at de-Kurdification.
This de-Kurdification attack being carried out in Rojava is a genocidal attack against all Kurds. This attack concerns all our people in the four parts of Kurdistan, because it is a genocidal attack. All our people must see this reality.
There is a conspiracy against the Kurds. The struggle of the Kurdish people, who resist for freedom and democracy, is being targeted for destruction due to international and regional interests. The gains of the Kurdish people are being eliminated. Their will to resist and their passion for freedom are being broken.
This is not only an attack against Kurds in Rojava. It is an attack against the will for freedom and the will to exist of all our people throughout Kurdistan.
For this reason, all our people across Kurdistan, in all four parts, must rise up. They must stand alongside our people resisting in Rojava Kurdistan. Day and night, all our people must remain mobilized to support the resistance of the people of Rojava. Above all, the people of Bakur Kurdistan and Bashur Kurdistan must support this resistance of the Rojava people.
We must stand with the struggle of the people of Rojava
The people of Rojava and their sons and daughters have, for decades, participated in the struggle across the four parts of Kurdistan and have given thousands of martyrs and wounded. With such a national stance, the people of Rojava Kurdistan strengthened the Kurdish people’s struggle. Today, all the people of Kurdistan in the four parts, the entire Kurdish people and their friends, must stand against this attack being carried out in Rojava Kurdistan and support those who are resisting. Just as the Kurdish people achieved success by resisting ISIS in Kobanê, and just as support was given to the Kobanê resistance in Bakur, Bashur, Rojhilat, and abroad, today we must also stand with the struggle of our people in Rojava Kurdistan.
The victory in Kobanê in 2015 was not achieved solely through the resistance of the fighters. ISIS was repelled in Kobanê thanks to the support, especially moral support, of our people across Kurdistan and the world, of friends and socialist forces. Today, too, it is time to provide such support to those resisting in Rojava Kurdistan.
For this reason, we must be extremely vigilant. There is a policy of genocide being carried out against the Kurdish people. This must be recognized.
Tomorrow may be too late; action must be taken now. Young people and women, above all, must strengthen this struggle. Kurdish youths exist for times like these. Young people must rise up everywhere. In 2014, the Suruç–Kobanê border was a symbolic site of resistance against ISIS.
Today, similarly, we can support the resistance of Rojava Kurdistan everywhere. Now is the time. The attacks are vile and brutal. We saw how the body of a Kurdish woman was thrown in Aleppo. Kurds have shown great resistance for decades. Despite all attacks, they have remained standing, they have resisted, and they have created great progress.
With this patriotic Kurdish spirit, with a revolutionary spirit, with a passion for the struggle for existence and freedom, this struggle has grown, developed, and achieved results. Today as well, if we trust our own strength, support our people, and if the entire people across the four parts of Kurdistan adopt a common stance, this attack can be repelled.
Political forces in all four parts of Kurdistan also have historic responsibilities in the face of such an attack. Those who fail to fulfill their historic responsibilities today will not be accepted by our people. For this reason, support must be given to the struggle in Rojava Kurdistan without excuses.
A call to the Arab people
On this occasion, I also address the Arab people of Rojava Kurdistan and Syria.
Arabs, Kurds, and Syriacs have lived together for more than a decade in peace, without conflict. While there was war and turmoil throughout Syria, in North and East Syria they lived together in brotherhood. Now HTS and certain forces want to pit Kurds and Arabs against each other. They want to create hostility toward Kurds among Arabs. This is truly despicable. Arabs fleeing the war in Syria came to the regions where Kurds lived, and Kurds always hosted them. In this respect, we call on the Arabs of Rojava Kurdistan and North and East Syria, and on all Arabs in Syria, not to fall for this game. Falling for such a trap would harm Arabs as much as Kurds. There may be provocateurs, and there are provocateurs; they must not be listened to.
I also call on revolutionary democratic forces around the world. Just as they provided great support to Kobanê in 2014–2015 and played a role in the Kobanê victory, they must play a role today as well.
On this occasion, I call on the entire Kurdish people, our friends, and democratic forces to struggle with a common stance against the attacks currently taking place, and I salute our people resisting in Rojava Kurdistan, wishing them success.
Biji Berxwedana Rojava, Biji Gele Kurd!
(Long live the Resistance of Rojava, long live the Kurdish people!)”