The Basque trade union ELA issued a statement reaffirming “its strongest solidarity with the Kurdish people, particularly with the population of northern and eastern Syria, in the face of attacks and aggression by forces of the Syrian Transitional Government, allied jihadist militias, and groups backed by Turkey.”
The statement also denounced “the complicity of international and European powers which, through their silence and tacit support for oppressive forces, perpetuate violence and the destruction of a project of social justice that has given hope to thousands of people.
Since the beginning of January 2026, a major military escalation has been recorded against Kurdish autonomous areas, with intense attacks by factions supported by the Damascus government and the Turkish state, resulting in numerous victims, displaced populations, and material damage.
According to information from the ground, the aggressions have intensified in recent hours with constant bombardments of the countryside and rural areas of Kobanê, carried out by mercenaries of the Transitional Government. In addition, in the city of Kobanê the supply of water, electricity, and internet access has been suspended, and extremist forces are approaching the city center, in what appears to be a campaign of reprisals against a city that achieved a historic victory over ISIS in 2014. With essential services deliberately cut off, a humanitarian crisis is rapidly unfolding.”
The statement continued: “In this context of collapsing territorial control and international abandonment, the escape and release of a significant number of Islamic State prisoners from several prisons and detention camps under Kurdish custody has been confirmed, including enclaves such as Al Hol and Al Shaddadi. The forced withdrawal of the Syrian Democratic Forces from these facilities, a direct consequence of the military offensive and the lack of international support, has created an extreme risk of the reactivation of jihadist networks in the region and beyond its borders.
Meanwhile, Turkish military forces are concentrating along the Turkish border with tanks, soldiers, and heavy weaponry. This military movement tightens the siege on the city and coincides with the advance of armed groups in the southern part of the territory, pointing to direct coordination between the border deployment and operations on the ground.
The desire for revenge against Kobane is unmistakable. The forces surrounding the city seek to erase both the symbolic and strategic significance of the defeat of global terrorism led by Kurdish men and women. By cutting off life-sustaining infrastructure, they are using basic human needs as a weapon against a population that once stood on the front line of global defense.”
The statement underlined that “the Kurdish population in Syria has repeatedly demonstrated its commitment to building a democratic, peaceful, diverse, and decentralized Syrian republic for the country’s broad ethnic and religious diversity. The Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, in which Kurdish, Armenian, Assyrian, Arab, and other peoples have coexisted for a decade of democratic self-governance, bears witness to this commitment.
The current strategic alliance between Turkey and the Syrian Transitional Government aimed at dismantling Kurdish political autonomy in northern Syria is undermining the hope for peaceful coexistence.
It must be emphasized that, while all this is happening, international silence prevails. Indeed, while attacks against civilian populations were ongoing, on January 9 the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the President of the European Council, António Costa, met with the President of the Transitional Government, al-Sharaa, promising EU support for Syria.”
ELA condemned “acts of violence against the Kurdish population and other minority peoples and supports a just peace in Syria through the development of democratic self-governance by and for the peoples of Syria. It also calls for participation in the mobilizations called in Euskal Herria in solidarity with Kurdistan.”