The Popular Unity Candidacy (CUP – Candidatura d’Unitat Popular), which operates in Catalonia, issued a written statement regarding the attacks on Rojava.
The statement said: “In recent weeks, we have seen how Jolani’s Syrian “transitional government,” following its campaign of ethnic cleansing against the Druze population of the region, has launched an armed offensive against the Autonomous Democratic Administration of North and East Syria (AANES).
Jolani’s government, which renamed itself after the fall of al-Assad and originates from the organization Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (with direct links to al-Qaeda and ISIS), is attacking the AANES in order to roll back the revolution and the principles on which it has been built: ethnic and religious coexistence among the different peoples of the region, democracy and popular self-organization, and the liberation of women. The AANES project stands in complete opposition not only to the interests of Jolani’s government, but also to those of the Turkish state and its determination to annihilate the Kurdish people, as well as to NATO, which—led by the United States—continues its policy of interference and destabilization in the Eastern Mediterranean Levant and Western Asia in order to control a region of high geostrategic importance for imperialism.”
The statement added: “We recall that the Kurdish people fought to defeat ISIS, sacrificing thousands of martyrs to free humanity from jihadism. Meanwhile, the European Union and the Spanish and French states not only look the other way, but also provide political and economic support to Jolani’s government. Last week, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, announced a package of 620 million euros for the Syrian executive. Thus, while in Europe they attempt to fuel racism and Islamophobia by invoking the specter of jihadism, in Western Asia they provide it with political and economic backing, financing the very groups that are releasing ISIS prisoners or that have committed crimes of ethnic cleansing against the peoples of the region, such as the Druze.
Once again, the imperialist powers of the United States and the European Union, together with the Zionist entity of Israel and the Turkish state, decide to divide up Western Asia, completely denying the right to self-determination of the peoples of the region. Once again, imperialism attacks any people who struggle to decide their own path—and to do so in a democratic direction, grounded in justice and equality.”
The statement continued: “For all these reasons, from the Catalan Countries, we express our solidarity with the Kurdish people and their resistance. The Independentist Left, as a socialist and feminist movement of national liberation, will defend any people that fights to exercise its right to self-determination and to defend its sovereignty.
We firmly denounce the crucial role of NATO, the European Union, and the Spanish and French states in sustaining the Syrian government, as well as their shared responsibility for the attacks against the AANES. We must defend forces and pathways that lead toward genuinely democratic solutions and that, far from the geopolitical interests of foreign and reactionary powers, respect the ethnic and religious diversity of the region.
From the Catalan Countries to Rojava, let us defeat imperialism and defend the self-determination of peoples!”