The international community continues to protest the attacks on Rojava by jihadist groups affiliated with the Syrian Transitional Government, which is backed by the Turkish state. While statements from different social and political circles have strongly condemned these attacks, many European politicians have also travelled to Rojava to observe the situation on the ground and to hold meetings with regional authorities and representatives of civil society.
One of these personalities is Dylan Boutiflat, Secretary General for International Relations of the Socialist Party, who recently visited Rojava together with Anna Pic, a member of the French National Assembly from the Socialist Party and held a series of meetings in the region. Boutiflat spoke to the ANF about his impressions of Rojava, the contacts he made in the region, and the latest developments.
This is part one of the interview.
You recently travelled to Rojava with your party’s MP Anna Pic to observe the attacks on the ground. To begin with, could you share your impressions of the field and the purpose of your visit?
Yes, between 2 and 5 February, we had the opportunity to travel to Rojava together with Anna Pic, a member of the National Assembly and vice chair responsible for international relations within our parliamentary group. We work closely together on all geopolitical issues addressed in parliament. For us, it is extremely important to stand alongside our Kurdish partners, friends and allies. A year earlier, we had also travelled to the region with a group of parliamentarians from different currents of the French left.
Our aim was to help the French public gain a clearer perspective and understanding of what is happening in Rojava and, more broadly, in the regions where the Kurdish population lives. Being in Rojava was important for us because we felt that we were at a moment of rupture. We needed to be present to see and bear witness to the violence, violations and crimes committed against the Kurdish people on the ground. This, however, does not apply only to the Kurdish people. Since 2011, when this broader region has been administered by the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, the same crimes have been committed against all minorities and communities who have lived together in Rojava in peace.
Many of the areas we visited a year ago, such as Raqqa, are no longer under Kurdish administration. In some areas, the situation of occupation continues.
Did you also hold a series of meetings with representatives of the Autonomous Administration and the military?
We had the opportunity to meet with the two co mayors of Qamishlo. We also met with political, civil, and military officials across the board. We held a meeting with Kongra Star, a civil society organisation. Listening to these different perspectives and assessments was important for us to understand the scale and severity of the attacks carried out by the Syrian armed forces that were formed with the support of restructured terrorist militias emerging from the ranks of Al Nusra and ISIS over the past decade.
What messages were conveyed to you during these meetings, and to what extent have rights violations occurred as a result of the attacks?
The first and most urgent message that emerged from what I observed and what was conveyed to us concerned the delivery of humanitarian aid. For example, we saw that within two weeks, 25,000 people had been forced to arrive in Qamishlo, a city of more than 300,000 residents, comparable in size to the French city of Orléans.
These people have fled the fighting and the return of Islamist groups and sought refuge in Qamishlo, the capital of Rojava. The municipality has organised itself to ensure that they are not left on the streets, arranging shelter in schools, administrative buildings, mosques, places of worship and various locations across the city.
It is February and the weather is still very cold. Nighttime temperatures can fall to minus 10 degrees Celsius. For this reason, these people have urgent shelter needs.
More than 25,000 people correspond to nearly 10 percent of the population of Qamishlo. To put this into perspective, if Paris had to absorb 10 percent of its population within a few weeks, this would mean that more than 200,000 people would suddenly be arriving on the streets of a city of two million. It is therefore necessary to grasp the scale of the responsibility being placed on Rojava. For ten years, Rojava has borne the responsibility of protecting these peoples, providing children with access to education and offering parents opportunities for work.
Today, this responsibility once again rests on Rojava’s shoulders without any form of negotiation. Because what can be said clearly today is this. Al Jolani, even though he is now referred to as Al Sharaa, is the same person and holds the same beliefs. We are facing Islamist groups that seek to push all minorities, including Kurds and Alawites, Syriacs and Druze, to their very limits. These communities are being forced to migrate, particularly towards Rojava, creating serious challenges in terms of infrastructure and emergency humanitarian support.
For this reason, the first priority must be the establishment of a humanitarian corridor and the delivery of aid to the population. According to what civil society organisations conveyed to us in particular, humanitarian assistance does not always reach families. In one school we visited, we saw that children and families had only a few soft drinks and a few packets of crisps to survive on. Leaving displaced refugees in such conditions of severe malnutrition and food deprivation is unacceptable.
You mentioned that the humanitarian crisis is being felt most acutely in Kobanê, which remains under siege. Were you able to enter the city?
Although we wanted to during this visit, we were not allowed to go to Kobanê for security reasons. However, I had been there a year earlier. Our friends within the Women’s Protection Units (YPJ) told us that travelling to the city would be risky. Officials repeatedly stressed that severe human rights violations are taking place in Kobanê because of the siege and that there is an urgent need for humanitarian assistance.
We struggled even to reach the headquarters of the YPJ command, because some roads are still not safe. Compared to last year, what struck me most was the intense military deployment, particularly by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), to protect Qamishlo, this city that has become almost a last refuge.
Last year, when passing through checkpoints, there was hardly any visible military presence. At most, there would be a single woman or man controlling the passage. This time, however, dozens of women and men were on duty. The resistance organised by the SDF today is truly impressive.
This situation must also be questioned in relation to the Syrian army forces loyal to Al Sharaa, who on the one hand say they want to integrate the SDF into the Syrian army, while on the other hand advance through force, displace the population and commit crimes.
There is a complete contradiction between the messages Al Sharaa conveys to international figures he receives in Damascus and the reality on the ground. On the ground, people are forced to protect themselves and seek refuge. As has been the case for the past ten years, today as well, the only forces capable of protecting them are the Kurdish forces.
You are a politician who closely follows developments in Syria. Based on your observations on the ground, how do you assess the differences between the administration of Al Sharaa, which international powers now seek to legitimise and entrust with Syria, and the Assad regime?
To be frank, in the first hours, the first weeks and the first months, an atmosphere of trust emerged. However, this trust was quickly undermined and dissipated.
The moment we saw that forces claiming to be affiliated with the Syrian army under the new leadership of Al Sharaa were committing the same crimes and the same acts of violence against the population, that trust collapsed. This began with attacks against the Druze and Alawites. It then continued with attacks on Kurdish neighbourhoods in Aleppo and on Rojava. In the year that has passed since Al Sharaa came to power, serious crimes have been committed against different segments of society.
Because of the many acts of violence and intimidation carried out against minorities in the country, it is no longer possible to place trust in this administration.
One of the most difficult aspects of dialogue with the Syrian authorities is the sense that promises are not being kept. There are serious doubts, in particular, about the agreements signed last March, which envisaged the recognition of Rojava in exchange for the integration of the SDF into the Syrian army.
In my view, sanctions on Syria were lifted far too quickly. There should perhaps have been more time to assess the sincerity and credibility of Al Sharaa’s statements.
This was our assessment, and we conveyed it to the French Minister for Foreign Affairs. After returning from Rojava, we briefed him on our impressions. Through our party’s secretary general, the issue is also being kept on the agenda of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
It is particularly important for us to continue this role together with all political forces within the framework of the working group chaired by MP Thomas Porte. As La France Insoumise, ecologists, communists and socialists, it is crucial that we continue to make what is happening in Rojava visible, to bring political weight to bear, and to exert pressure on the Al Sharaa government.
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