Gulcan Kacmaz Sayyigit, Co-Spokesperson of the Democratic Unity Initiative and a Van (Wan) MP for the Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party), said the attacks on Rojava have brought about a shared stance across all parts of the Kurdish people, noting that Kurds are acting with a single voice in a strategic and political manner to an extent not seen before. Sayyigit stressed that this emerging common position is not merely a reaction against war but also creates a strong foundation for the construction of Kurdish national unity. She added that the struggle being waged in Rojava constitutes a shared achievement for all Kurds, and said the conditions are now more than ripe for convening a Kurdish National Conference and establishing a Kurdish National Congress.
There is a need for new paths and methods
Gulcan Kacmaz Sayyigit said that while efforts toward Kurdish national unity have been important, they have failed to produce lasting results. She said past experiences clearly show that new methods and tools are now required. Sayyigit said: “Although valuable work has been carried out on national unity from the past to the present, these efforts have unfortunately remained confined to certain periods and have not acquired a permanent character. To make this sustainable, we now need new paths and methods. We repeatedly speak about how Kurds have been massacred, forced into exile, denied recognition on their own lands, and subjected to displacement policies and unsolved killings. This reality does not apply only to Northern Kurdistan (Bakur). Kurds living in other parts have gone through similar processes and continue to do so. The most current and vivid example of this is the war being waged in Rojava today.”
Sayyigit said: “Many obstacles have emerged over time. At times, interventions by international powers prevented us from bringing these efforts to a conclusion and from establishing a concrete and strong ground for unity. From the perspective of the Democratic Unity Initiative, one of the central problems has been that this unity could not be achieved because Kurds have acted according to their own political approaches or narrow group interests. We have begun to focus our work precisely on this problem.”
For the first time, Kurds across all four parts speak as one
Gulcan Kacmaz Sayyigit said the attacks on Rojava have brought debates on Kurdish national unity into sharper focus, adding that the moment carries lessons not only for today but for the future as well. She said Kurds are expressing a shared political will on an unprecedented scale and stressed that this momentum must be transformed into something permanent. Sayyigit said: “If the Kurds had already built national unity, if a genuinely strategic and political framework had existed, these attacks on Rojava might not have been carried out so easily. Today, however, there is serious and tangible potential for national unity. For the first time, one voice is rising from all four parts of Kurdistan, from the diaspora, from Russia, from across the world.
You denied the Kurds on their own lands. You subjected them to policies of denial, destruction, and assimilation. You fragmented them physically, divided them by borders, and ruled through a strategy of division. Yet today, regardless of political affiliation or religious belief, Kurds are delivering a single message to the world: ‘Kurdistan yek welat.’ At this moment, the heart, mind, and soul of every Kurd are in Rojava. This represents a historic turning point for national unity. We wish it had not emerged through war, but it remains deeply significant.
A critical question must be asked here: does this spirit of unity only surface when a war is imposed on the Kurds? If unity had been realized earlier, we might have prevented these wars, at least in part. Today, however, Kurds are, for the first time, responding to the war on Rojava in a truly strategic and political way, on the ground, as one voice and one collective will. This has now laid the groundwork for the next phase. Without delay, Kurds must move to convene the Kurdish National Conference and establish the Kurdish National Congress. The conditions for this are now fully in place.”
Posters of Kurdish leaders stood side by side
Sayyigit said the scene she witnessed during their visit to Rojava reflected a level of social mobilization that had reached striking proportions. She said: “In Qamishlo, there was resistance at every street corner. At every corner, there was a reaction against this war. Everyone was in the streets, from the very young to the very old. People were defending their streets, their neighborhoods, and their avenues. What we truly saw there was this: women holding their babies in their arms while defending their land and their gains. There were young women, elderly women, young people. Everyone, from seven to seventy, was on their feet.
One of the things that struck me most was this: the posters of Kurdish leaders were displayed together. All the policies pursued by state power to fragment the Kurds, to create divisions among them, and to cultivate different perceptions of Kurdish leaders have, we can say, collapsed with this war. In its current form, these policies have effectively disintegrated in Rojava.”
Rojava is a red line for all Kurds
Gulcan Kacmaz Sayyigit said Kurds in Northern Kurdistan have never viewed Rojava as a separate geography, stressing that what is being targeted there is not merely a region but a new model of life that has emerged. Sayyigit said: “Kurds in Northern Kurdistan have never seen Rojava as a separate place. They have never treated it as separate. When patriarchal state power drew borders, it tried to split our relatives, our friends, our loved ones with barbed wire, and it did so. But that separation between Rojava and Northern Kurdistan was never accepted. Kurds in Northern Kurdistan share the same feelings as Kurds in the other parts.
What truly matters is this: a revolution has emerged in Rojava. A new model of life has taken shape. Since the Rojava revolution, immense effort and struggle have been invested, and we are now speaking of a new paradigm, a new way of life that is gradually bearing fruit. For this very reason, Rojava has been targeted. What is under attack is this model in which Kurds and all other peoples there can live together.
This model does not fit with patriarchal state logic or with the dominant nation-state mindset. We are facing a capitalist modernity that sustains itself through the idea of one nation, one language, and one religion. Rojava, however, has put forward a model that disrupts this capitalist modernity. It has shown that another way of life is possible, livable, and can be built.
That is why Rojava is the apple of the eye of all Kurds; it is a red line for all Kurds. This is how we see it. Any attack on Rojava or on Kurdish gains there is also seen by Kurds in Northern Kurdistan as a direct attack on themselves.”
You cannot speak of peace at home while waging war on Kurds abroad
Sayyigit said the process underway in Turkey has generated deep mistrust due to the attacks on Rojava, adding that this has caused a profound rupture among Kurds in Northern Kurdistan. She said: “There is a process underway in Turkey. Yes, for a hundred years we, as Kurds in Northern Kurdistan and within the borders of Turkey, have been subjected to policies of denial, destruction, and assimilation. A serious struggle was waged, and heavy sacrifices were made. Ultimately, especially after fifty-two years of struggle, the ways to resolve this issue are now being discussed at the table. The debate over the dissolution of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), discussions on laying down arms, Abdullah Öcalan’s call on February 27, and the maturity that has emerged around resolving this issue through democratic and peaceful means were all significant.
At precisely such a moment, an attack on Rojava, an attack we do not see as independent from Turkey, has created a deep rupture and a serious sense of mistrust among Kurds living in Northern Kurdistan. Statements by state officials and senior authorities supporting Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), along with practices on the ground, have further deepened this emotional break.
Our call to Turkey is clear: you cannot speak of peace with Kurds within your borders while nurturing hostility toward Kurds beyond your borders. No Kurd will accept this. We, as Kurds in Northern Kurdistan, do not accept it either. Kurdish gains must be respected, regardless of where they are achieved. This is what we expect. Today, Kobanê is under siege. It is facing a very serious danger. The assault there is not limited to attacks carried out with tanks, artillery, unmanned aerial vehicles, and armed drones; special warfare policies are also in effect. People are being condemned to hunger, thirst, and destitution through blockade. There are children dying from the cold, people losing their lives because they cannot access medicine, and civilians are being killed.”
Turkey faces a decisive choice
Gulcan Kacmaz Sayyigit said Turkey must assume responsibility in its policies toward Rojava and can take concrete steps to halt the war and allow humanitarian aid to reach the region. Sayyigit said: “Turkey’s approach toward the people just across its border must change. Turkey can play a role in stopping the war there. It can take responsibility in opening channels for dialogue and in creating grounds for peace and negotiation. In our view, it is not too late to do this.
Kobanê is right next to us. Qamishlo is right next to us. These border crossings have been closed for years. By opening them, Turkey can enable humanitarian aid to reach the region. Today, this stands before all of us as a historic responsibility and a serious test.
Will we defend a bright future? Will we defend the new model of life that has emerged in Rojava? Will we stand by a women’s freedom–based paradigm? Will we choose to be neighbors to a paradigm in which all peoples live together equally and freely? Or will we choose to be neighbors to the dark ISIS mindset that cuts off limbs, severs women’s hair and braids, throws women’s bodies from upper floors, and beheads or mutilates people? Turkey must now decide.”