We have said it many times, but it seems we need to keep saying it for a while longer—this time with even more detail.
With the first days of 2026, a new phase of conspiracy against the Kurds in the Middle East was set in motion. This conspiracy targeted the struggle for status that the Kurdish people, artificially divided by borders among four countries in the Middle East, have been carrying out since the beginning of the 21st century. After the collapse of the Baath regime under Saddam’s dictatorship in 2003, Kurds in Başûr Kurdistan gained federal status and entered the international arena. Later, with the outbreak of the Syrian crisis in 2011, Rojava Kurdistan also began seeking a status by taking advantage of the political and administrative vacuum, defining its political stance as a “third way.” Even before a concrete model had emerged, ISIS attacks in 2014 aimed to render the status of Kurds in both Başûr and Rojava Kurdistan controversial. As ISIS terror reached the gates of Hewlêr, inflicting a new genocide on the Êzîdîs and preparing to occupy all of Başûr Kurdistan, guerrillas and peshmerga formed a defense line on the borders of Kirkuk and repelled the attacks.
When Rojava Kurdistan was on the brink of total genocide, Kobanê—said to be “about to fall”—was saved from collapse through a mobilization involving all Kurds, demonstrating an example of national unity, just as today. By eliminating ISIS, a terror scourge feared worldwide, a new perspective for the region emerged in the form of the Autonomous Administration status.
After ISIS was stopped at the borders of Kirkuk and Kobanê, Kurds undertook initiatives to advance the gains achieved in both Başûr and Rojava Kurdistan. In Başûr Kurdistan, on 25 September 2017, an independence referendum was held to go beyond federalism and turn popular demands for independence into a political will. However, this referendum triggered a counter-reaction within Iraq, fueling Arab nationalism and launching a wave of attacks against the Kurdistan Federal Region, resulting in the loss of nearly half of its territory, from Germiyan to Maxmur. The inability of Kurds to display a unified political stance during this process played a significant role in this outcome. From that day to the present, this situation has continued to cause periodic disputes over the status of the Kurdistan Federal Region. Today, as Kurds face a new conspiracy, the federal status achieved in Başûr Kurdistan is once again being questioned.
In 2018 and 2019, attempts were made to dismantle the autonomous administration through attacks on Efrîn, followed by Serêkaniyê and Girê Spî, targeting Cizîrê and Kobanê. Although these attacks were partially contained due to the role of the SDF, the Autonomous Administration suffered its first major blow. In subsequent periods, both the SDF and Autonomous Administration officials carried out diplomatic and political efforts worldwide to secure a political status for Rojava; however, the world repeatedly demonstrated that it had no intention of granting Rojava Kurds any status beyond a military role.
At the same time, regional powers’ plans to establish a new Middle East order became increasingly visible and openly debated. At United Nations meetings, maps drawn according to each country’s interests were displayed one after another. The contradiction and conflict between Israel and Iran deepened. The United States’ methods, divorced from international law and social conscience, became more evident on the ground. The killing of Qasem Soleimani, commander of the Quds Force, on 3 January 2020 showed that the Middle East would no longer be the same. Interventions in the region had begun.
On 7 October 2023, Hamas struck itself in the foot, carrying out an irreversibly destructive attack, encouraged by the Turkish state, that opened the door to the most inhumane assaults on Israel. Seizing this opportunity, Israel activated its plans to implement the map it had previously announced to the world. The Middle East was now ready to enter an irreversible Abrahamic path.
In Syria, signals were given that a new Sunni belt would be formed against the Shiite bloc. In Idlib, a geography far from Damascus and right next to Turkey, an al-Qaeda remnant force was cultivated with the approval of international powers. The Syrian leg of the Abrahamic map was being prepared in Idlib. After long preparations, by the final days of 2024, everything was ready for Syria and the time for action had arrived, though this was still far from being widely understood.
On 27 November 2024, HTS forces moved from Idlib toward Aleppo. The Assad regime had lost Russian support, and Iran was incapable of coming to Assad’s aid. In this context, on 8 December 2024, HTS forces reached Damascus, closing one chapter and opening a new one.
Neither the Middle East nor Syria was the same anymore. A period was beginning in which Iran would no longer be the old Iran, nor Iraq the old Iraq. So when did the Kurds understand this process?
The person who recognized this earliest within Kurdish political movements and leadership, and once again proved his foresight, was Leader Apo [Abdullah Ocalan]. He declared that the changes in Syria signaled dangers for the status of Kurds in all parts and stated that Kurds must also enter a process of change against these conjunctural risks. On 27 February, he announced the Call for Peace and a Democratic Society to the world. He urgently penned a manifesto showing the way for Kurds to protect both their existence and their status, attempting to preempt the risks they faced.
While Leader Apo perceived the situation firsthand and sought to intervene, the PKK responded positively from its side and took the necessary steps. However, the failure of other political actors to correctly read the risks of the process paved the way for developments now unfolding in Rojava Kurdistan and potentially in Başûr Kurdistan as well.
Leader Apo envisioned the Peace and Democratic Society process first as one that would create an environment of non-conflict and remove weapons as a method of struggle, and second as the democratic integration of the existing struggle structure into political struggle. This process of democratic integration, where Kurds would protect their existence in every field, was presented as the path to safeguarding gains. Leader Apo sought to explain how to move the Kurdish issue from the gallows to the negotiating table, from genocide to democratic integration, and over the past year he made this concrete through the steps he took.
He emphasized that through democratic integration, Kurds in Rojava Kurdistan and across Syria could both protect their achievements and become a key actor in Syria’s future.
However, a comprehensive conspiracy aimed at Kurds via Syria was attempted to be implemented through the interim government in Damascus. From the beginning of 2026, this conspiracy was put into practice as a concept by non-normative structures within Syria, Turkey, and international powers. The attacks launched on the Şêx Meqsûd and Eşrefiyê neighborhoods of Aleppo were meant to be concluded in Kandil. Kandil did not only signify PKK headquarters or cadres, but all of Başûr Kurdistan. By provoking a serious Kurdish–Arab war, the plan was to first move east of the Euphrates, seize Kobanê and Qamişlo, then pass through Til Koçer and Semalka gates to Şengal and Başûr Kurdistan, ultimately eliminating Başûr Kurdistan.
Those who approached the process in good faith and treated events as local, disconnected, and unrelated were mistaken. This conspiracy was a continuation, and an expanded version, of the 15 February conspiracy. It targeted not just one Kurdish movement, but all political and social gains of Kurds in all four parts of Kurdistan. It was being pursued by attempting to provoke Kurdish–Arab conflict across the region. Seeing this, Leader Apo, immediately after the conspiracy in Dêr Hafir, called on Kurdish political actors such as the SDF, KCK, political parties in Başûr Kurdistan, and the DEM Party to adopt a common stance against the conspiracy. In response, the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria declared mobilization and called on all Kurds to rise up in defense of Rojava. This call was answered by Kurds and their allies worldwide, especially in Başûr and Bakur Kurdistan.
Borders were crossed, walls were torn down, mental barriers were broken, and all Kurds, perhaps for the first time in their history, managed to stop this dangerous conspiracy by creating unity beyond political and ideological contradictions.
This is not a defeat. It is a guarantee of existence for all Kurds. The conspiracy has been stopped. That is the greatest gain. Yet it has not been completely eliminated. In a period where Iranian and Iraqi interventions are on the agenda, the danger over Başûr Kurdistan will become even more pronounced. Just as Kurds overcame all political contradictions to unite around Rojava and stop the conspiracy there, they will need to display the same stance for Başûr Kurdistan tomorrow. If Kurds succeed in thwarting this conspiracy as a whole in the first half of this century, every Kurd may have the chance to witness the freedom of Kurdistan that lives in their heart. But if the conspiracy succeeds, we risk reaching a point where even the name of the Kurd is no longer mentioned.
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