Thank you. And I’m grateful to the Washington Kurdish Institute for organizing this event. And for inviting me, greeting the other speakers and the audience. Hopefully together, we can add to the knowledge on the Kurds of the speakers and of the audience. It is really difficult to cover all these events in Syria or in Northeast Syria/Rojava in a matter of minutes. And I have an allocated time, but I have prepared some slides. I’m going to show PowerPoint slides. As you know 2021 started with the Biden presidency, and that was fortunate for the Kurds and Christians in Syria. The Kurds and the population, including myself, were quite worried about the game between Trump and Erdogan as it happened.
The Invasion of Syria and Iraq by Turkey has caused massive security problems for the strategic direction of Rojava
The invasion of 19 in Rojava led to the Kurdish and Christian population being forced out and several types of violations happen there and still continue to be a threat. Fortunately, another massacre or another invasion didn’t happen as Vice President Biden won the election. And we were happy about this. I have some major areas to talk about because I cannot cover everything, but I have just allocated the major areas that I can talk about which are related to the security situation, the economy, the living conditions, and the political status. The security situation, the SDF, and the US-led coalition to continue to contain ISIL/S. Although ISIS sleeper cells continue to operate and intensify their action in 2021. They getting an advantage from the conditions in this zone created in the two 2019 Turkish invasions.
This has been a major security breach and a major step back from what the international coalition against ISIS had achieved. Northeast Syria is continuously under daily attacks by terrorists. Northeast Syria is also under attack by the Turkish military and Turkish commanded militias, especially from the areas they occupied in 2019, and also in some areas here. This is a major concern now for the coalition and the SDF as the SDF is kind of consuming or allocating a lot of resources and efforts to deal with these attacks daily, and this is distracting the SDF from its main mission in the campaign against ISIL. When talking about security issues, we must also speak about the role of Russia because Russia is given the role of the tour. Unfortunately, Russia is entrusted to secure the buffer zone between the Kurdish and the Turkish military forces. Russia is actually playing a negative role as it’s using the Turkish military and the existence of Turkish, military, and militias as a tool of terror against the population of Kurds and Christians in the area. And you can see here, this is a map of December 2020 by can see the source. The attacks are continuing, and Russia is actually using this to force the SDF to abandon the us-led coalition and to make concessions to the Syrian regime. These violations are causing weekly mortalities amongst the different ethnic and religious backgrounds in the area. These violations fall mostly onto the Kurdish Christian areas where especially in Intel Tamar, Christian populated areas get a type of heavy bombardment from the Turkish military and Turkish militias. Iranian militias and the Assad regime. Iranian-backed militias are in the areas West of the Euphrates and these cells are also causing instability and problems for the coalition and SDF.
Both the Syrian Regime and Iran are inside these sleepers’ cells that exist to create instability in the region. They, they also get an advantage from this invasion 19 because the situation changed. The grip on the ground lessened because of the existence or the presence of Russia and the Syrian regime in some places. Turkey is antagonistic to the Syrian regime. They think that Turkey is advancing its argument that Syrian Kurds are a security concern for Turkey, but have these people, or especially the policymakers and the people who are concerned about the area studied, how many attacks actually Syrian occurs committed inside Turkey or preemptive attacks. These offensive attacks that Syrian Kurds planned against Turkey but are not self-defense against the Turkish attacks. You might not find any attacks like this, but I think the main concern is that they are too ideological. One of them is that the Syrian Kurds are adjusting to the Kurdish area or the region as Kurdistan was divided. In the Kurdish area of Turkey, the majority of Kurds are subjugated. According to some studies over 20 million Kurds are subjugated and deprived of their rights. So the Syrian Kurds’ condition has progressed, and this would encourage Kurds to announce autonomy before. The progression of the Syrian Kurds has encouraged Turkish Kurds to become more politically active. And this is the main concern for Turkey, and it’s not a security concern. But I can say it’s a racist concern. The other one is the AKP and Erdogan have their Islamist agenda of expansion. Erdogan wants to retrieve the Ottoman legacy that way they are, they are now or since this so-called Arab spring, they are supporting these Islamist groups and the Muslim Brotherhood in Syria, Egypt, Libya, and even in Iraq and some other places.
The Economy of Northeast Syria is Struggling
The other point is about the economy and living conditions of the population or the living conditions of internally displaced peoples in northeast Syria/Rojava. Although the region has a type of promising oil and gas reserves and it has somewhat large agricultural planes, it has not received any big investments and this could be for the embargo or for the lack of political recognition. The administration, law resources, and humanitarian organizations are struggling to find solutions for the lack of essential food elements, medicine, and energy for the IDPs. The issues surrounding IDP are especially important because there are a large number of IDPs everywhere because of ISIS and the Turkish invasion. There are also problems at the border crossing. Of course, there is an embargo over Syria and it impacted the living conditions of all of the Syrian population, not only in that area. There are two crossings but only one crossing for the public, which is called Semelka can be shown here. This is sometimes on and off, and it depends on the political rift between the Syrian Kurdish PYD and the Iraqi KDP. The border is not stable enough to be used for investments and other types of economic connectedness. So there is a problem in north Syria, and we have another problem, which is the weaponizing of water by Turkey. Turkey actually uses water resources as a weapon to harm the population. Turkey is building three dams on the Euphrates and Tigris rivers. These are international rivers crossing through Syria and Iraq, and this type of policy harms the Syrian and Iraqi population including Kurds, Arabs, and others. Turkey and its militias are depriving the populations of cities like Haki and the IDPs there from accessing the water of a Syrian water station of ALO. This water station has been occupied by Turkey and its militia since 2019, and just yesterday they attacked a water station called Aisha. This water station is far away from Turkey’s border and it’s close to ISA. It is really harsh and difficult for the population with all these limited resources and all these difficulties they face to find stability. The other point or area I want to shortly cover is the political status of the Kurds.
The Struggle for International Recognition and Future Recommendations
The Syrian Democratic Council is searching for international recognition for the administration of Northeast Syria. So far its efforts have not been very successful. This is true of its negotiations with the Syrian regime as well. Although during the last year there was some modest progress in the de facto communication with the autonomous administration and the departments of foreign relations in some Western countries. A relevant point is the recognition of the autonomous administration by the Catalonian parliament. And this was a positive point for Rojava. I have these recommendations for the U.S.: demand the withdrawal of the Turkish and Iranian forces and militia, say the Turkish forces, militias, and jihadis perpetrated flagrant crimes against humanity and war crimes. describe their acts as acts of ethnic cleansing because they targeted Kurds, women, and religious minorities especially in Afrin. Another recommendation is to reactivate the security mechanism, which was banned by the Trump administration, after destroying the fortification and defenses of SDF upon the request of the Trump personnel. Unfortunately, this was a betrayal and a green light to the Turks to invade. So hopefully the Biden Administration can find an effective mechanism for reconstructing the basic services and schools in the liberated areas. The areas I mean are the ones liberated from ISIL as part of the international campaign against ISIL. The lack of such services creates grounds for pro ISIL sentiments in the areas that have ISIL sleeper cells. Another recommendation that will be difficult but is vital for investments and for stability in the region is to recognize the autonomous administration and to support recognition for this internationally. Lastly, they should encourage investments in the ANNES. Thank you very much.
The Western World needs to take a deep sociopolitical look at the current status of the Kurds in all four regions of Kurdistan.
Thank you. I have an additional recommendation to add as my final point. I just recommend that the U.S. And Western policymakers have a sociopolitical look at their Kurds as a population and as political movements in the four parts of Kurdistan. The long-term repression of the Kurdish nation under the rule of racist dictatorships of Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Syria made the position of the majority Kurds positive and admirative regarding the U.S. and Western world. Such a feature of the Kurds can be discerned on the ground and perhaps many American and Western personnel and soldiers have experienced this feature as they mingled with the Kurds since the nineties or during the war against Saddam Hussein in 2003 and during the anti-ISIL campaign in Iraq and Syria. You might not see this in the other Middle Eastern nations, except in Israel and I hope that such a look would lead to stronger Kurdish American and Kurdish Western relations. Thank you.