The strongest reaction to the attacks launched from Aleppo toward Rojava by the Syria Transitional Government affiliated with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and backed by Turkey and imperialist powers has come from women. Women say they know all too well the threat posed by jihadist mercenaries attempting to erase the Kurdish people’s gains using the symbols and methods of ISIS, based on the atrocities inflicted on Yazidi women. Most recently, the killing of a Kurdish woman who was defending her neighborhood in Aleppo, after she was thrown from a building by mercenary groups, has revived the nightmare of twelve years ago in their minds.
Women who staged a protest in front of the Syrian Consulate in Istanbul said they will not accept the support provided by the government in Turkey to these mercenary groups. They spoke to ANF, calling for standing with Rojava with one heart and one voice and stressing unity and solidarity in the face of the ongoing attacks.
The Kurdish movement saved free life through its struggle in Syria
Sibel Uzun, a representative of the Labor Movement Party (EHP), said silence must not be maintained in the face of attacks on Rojava by mercenaries affiliated with HTS and backed by Turkey and imperialist powers. Uzun said, “Rojava is not merely the name of a place. It is the name of a system of governance, the name of an achievement, the name of women’s freedom and equality, and it is never without defenders.”
Uzun said the Kurdish movement waged a relentless struggle against ISIS mercenaries in Syria, above all in Kobanê, and stressed that through this resistance, the Kurdish movement also safeguarded secular, democratic, and free life on a global scale.
She criticized Western countries that remain silent today while Kurds, who fought on behalf of all humanity against ISIS mercenaries in Syria, are once again under attack, adding that this silence and indifference reveal the broader approach of imperialism itself.
Uzun also said claims directed at Kurds suggesting “you failed to foresee this” are misguided, underlining that the struggle carried by the Kurdish people, one that shoulders the freedom of all peoples, must be properly understood by everyone.
We will stand with the Kurdish movement to the very end
Sibel Uzun said that a commission has been established in Turkey regarding the resolution of the Kurdish issue and that significant progress has been made so far. She continued: “Abdullah Öcalan’s theses have entered everyone’s agenda, and weapons were laid down. Serious progress was made during this process. Now we must take ownership of this path. We can do this by standing with Rojava. Therefore, those who do not stand with Rojava today and who are not in solidarity with the Kurdish movement are in a profoundly mistaken position.
We have bound all our hearts and all our minds there. We must place our hopes there. We have seen many times how imperialism, armed with all conventional weapons, was defeated by resisting peoples, once in Vietnam and once in Iraq. This time, the Kurdish people will teach imperialism a lesson; we believe this. That is why we will stand alongside the Kurdish movement, focusing our attention wherever it stands and asserts its will. The Kurdish people, and especially Kurdish women, are not alone and will never walk alone; together, through resistance, we will prevail.”
Our hearts beat together with the Kurdish people of Rojava
Makbule Yılmaz of the Peace Mothers said that when the process began in pursuit of peace, they set aside all their concerns, holding on to peace with great hope, only to face deep disappointment once again. She stressed that attacking Rojava represents the greatest hostility toward the Kurds and warned that supporting gangs hostile to women and children would lead to grave consequences.
Yılmaz stated that she has been following developments from Aleppo to Rojava with great concern and said, “The gangs that abducted Yazidi women in Shengal and sold them in slave markets are today repeating the same brutality in Aleppo and Rojava. They throw a woman from a building, take women hostage, and spread violence everywhere.”
Yılmaz also said the people of Rojava are not alone and added, “Our hearts beat together with the Kurdish people of Rojava. God willing, these attacks will stop as soon as possible, and a lasting peace will be built. We do not want mothers to cry anymore.”
We will stand for humanity or face a Syria handed over to gangs
Zeynep Çelik from the Women’s Defense Network said women’s position is clear and unequivocal. Çelik said: “As women, we stand for the freedom of the resisting Kurdish people, Kurdish women, and the peoples of Syria. Today, what is called HTS, but is in fact a continuation of ISIS, represents the beheading, misogynistic, and rapist mentality of Ahmed Al-Sharaa (al-Jolani). We, as women, know this mentality very well: from the stories of women in Kurdistan, from what was inflicted on Yazidi women in Shengal, and from our own geography, where we have lived through, witnessed, and borne testimony to the Hezbollah mentality.”
She also added: “We know that this savage mentality does not bring freedom to women or to peoples. That is why there can be no ambivalence on this issue. Either we will stand for equality, freedom, and humanity, or we will stand for a Syria surrendered to these gangs. Just as imperialist powers handed Afghanistan over to the Taliban, they have also handed Syria over to HTS. Today in Afghanistan, women, girls, and people of different beliefs have no freedom or space left. A fully sharia-based, reactionary rule now exists in the same way in Syria. We will not accept such a Syria on Turkey’s doorstep.”
We must not allow the ISIS mentality to prevail
Arzu Fırat, an MP from the People’s Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party), recalled that during massacres carried out by HTS in two Kurdish neighborhoods of Aleppo, women were thrown from buildings. She said it is impossible for the public in Turkey and the world to turn a blind eye to such brutality. Fırat added that what has been inflicted on the Kurdish people in Aleppo and Rojava has no religious, moral, or conscientious justification.
Fırat said: “Our call to the entire world is to stand with one heart for Rojava. Syria cannot be left to the rule of these gangs. In 2014, we witnessed firsthand how ISIS massacred people and sold women in slave markets. The whole world bore witness to the horrific crimes inflicted on Yazidi women. Yazidis summarized that brutality by saying, ‘We could not even find shrouds and had to bury our dead with our own blankets.’ Today, the same danger confronts women in Rojava.
The entire world must act with this awareness, and especially women in our country must never allow this archaic, death-spreading mentality. The path to a peaceful and democratic life passes through here.”
The Kurdish people will never accept oppression against Kurds across the border
Fırat said Turkey is giving the impression of pursuing a “process” while at the same time continuing hostile attacks against Rojava and Kurdish gains.
Fırat also said: “Kurds have been on the side of peace from the very beginning. What the government in Turkey is doing today is unacceptable. Kurds in Turkey and Kurds in Rojava are relatives, and no one can remain indifferent to these attacks.
The Kurdish people will never accept, and are not accepting, the oppression inflicted on Kurds on the other side of the border. This stance must be reversed without delay, and channels of mediation, negotiation, and dialogue between the parties must be opened.”