Washington Kurdish Institute October 11, 2021
A Syrian Democratic Council (SDC) delegation recently visited Washington and held meetings with several lawmakers and US officials. The delegation, led by Ilham Ahmed, the Executive President of the SDC, addressed several issues facing the Kurdish-led Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES), including threats that are pivotal for US national interests as much as for the Syrian Kurds, who have been US allies since 2014. Speaking to the Washington Kurdish Institute (WKI) through an interpreter, Ahmed discussed the constant ramifications of the Turkish invasion into Syria, mainly in the Kurdish region, in both 2018 and 2019. She specifically mentioned that the “Turkish military continues to attack pivotal cities and the administrative centers of the AANES.” The Turkish invasion into the Syrian Kurdish region aims to disband the AANES, whom Turkey accused of having ties with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), an armed group fighting for Kurdish rights in Turkey since 1979. Turkey’s authoritarian President Erdogan’s anti-Kurdish rhetoric, and the bloody campaign by the Turkish military against the prospect of a Kurdish nation since 1923, eased the way to commit yet another ethnic cleansing against the Kurdish nation, this time in Syria. Since 2018, Turkey and its Jihadist proxies from occupying the Afrin region, whose invaders include both former and current ISIS and al Qaeda-like extremist groups. The results of the Afrin invasion in 2018 were devastating for Syrian Kurds, as their population in the city decreased from 99% to less than 25%, within just the first two weeks of the invasion. To the present, Kurdish homes, farms, and businesses continue to be stolen and confiscated by radical Turkish proxies. Ahmed warned that Idlib, which is currently under the rule of extremists and Turkey, might also end up becoming the second Afrin” if Turkish advances aren’t stopped in Syria.
Additionally, Ahmed noted that assassinations, kidnappings, and extortion against the Kurds have become a normality both in Afrin and other Turkish-controlled cities in Syria. Turkey also imposed “Turkification” policies, erasing the Kurdish and Arabic identities and languages while replacing them with Turkish. “Unfortunately, we cannot do anything about the Turkification of Syrian minority groups,” said Ahmed, warning that Idlib might be next. “We are worried that what happened to Afrin will happen to Idlib,” she added.
In 2018, Russia greenlit Turkey’s plan to invade Afrin in a “win-win” situation: distancing Turkey further from NATO and the US, as well as threatening the US’s growing influence via the Kurds in Syria. However, Turkey’s actions in 2019, with the launch of another invasion campaign against the Kurds in Sari Kani (Ras al-Ain) and Geri Spi (Tal Abyad),was greenlit by the former US President Donald Trump, not Russia. Former President Trump allowed Ankara’s forces to commit atrocities against the Kurds while they were fighting alongside the US against ISIS. The infamous Trump-Erdogan phone call in the Fall of 2019 was a blow to the US national interest given that the Turkish war on Kurds put America in a much weaker spot against Russia, Iran, Turkey, ISIS, and the Assad regime. However, after immense public pressure, Trump decided to remain in small parts of Syria after Turkey signed a loose ceasefire, much to the relief of the AANES. “Turkey has never committed to their deal with the United States,” underlined Ahmed. Despite the US-Turkish deal, the AANES has been a target for Turkey and their proxies, mainly areas near the strategic M4 highway, where Turkey attempts to paralyze the ANNES’s movement further. While imposing an embargo on the AANES, Turkey often uses electricity and water as weapons to confine and destabilize the area. To support Ahmed’s points, the AANES security forces release weekly and monthly statistics of Turkish aggression on the AANES, including the civilian casualties and the destruction of villages and homes.
According to Ahmed, “the US withdrawal from Afghanistan has hurt the morale of our people in Syria”, though Ahmed reiterated that recent SDC talks with US White House and military officials have revealed that “there are no current indications of the US pulling out of Syria”. However, Ahmed fears the recent Erdogan-Putin meeting in Sochi will translate against the Kurds: “Syrian Kurds always bear the results of their deals,” noted Ahmed, reminding them about the Afrin invasion and Trump’s greenlighting of Ankara in 2019.
Both Turkey and Russia are in tumultuous relationship in Syria; while they are at extreme odds with Idlib, Turkish-backed Jihadist groups, and the Assad regime, they do agree on policies that work against the US and NATO. Russia wants to restore Assad’s power at any price and as soon as possible, pushing the Kurds for talks with Demascus, which may result in a gridlock as the Syrian regime is not ready to offer any status for the Kurds and the AANES.
Despite any challenges, the AANES is one of the most successful models in Syria, if not in the entire region. Gender equality, the diversity of governing bodies and parties, religious and cultural freedom, and the democratic project the Executive Council of the AANES adopted has led to a more international acceptance toward the idea of legitimate Syrian stability, though the AANES lacks world-wide cooperation and recognition. The Turkish veto against their participation in US-backed talk over Syria’s future has kept them in an ambiguous corner of Syria, despite counting the fight against ISIS with support of the US-led coalition. While Ahmed advocated for participation in Syria talks, she also called upon the US to allow American companies to invest and work in the AANES areas. “We do not want to be a burden on the US’s economy,” said Ilham and stressed that they are pursuing avenues to allow U.S. businesses to invest in the AANES. The ANNES region has more than 60% of Syria’s sources, including energy and agriculture, but the region lacks critical infrastructure due to discriminatory policies by the Assad regime on the Kurdish and suburban non-Kurdish areas across the country. “The infrastructure is destroyed, and we need various service companies to rehabilitate the infrastructure and create jobs for the population which will prevent them from joining extremist groups. “ Noted Ahmed. Indeed, unemployment and poverty have been factors driving people to join terror groups in Syria and across the region.
The United States must take in cooperation with the SDC, SDF, and the AANES to bring greater peace and stability to Syria. First, the US should continue its economic and political support, as well as equipping the SDF to ensure the military defeat of ISIS and any other emerging extremist groups, as well as for the AANES’ capability of self-defense. Second, to achieve stability and prevent ISIS from spreading, the US should activate the sanction exemption laws already in place since 2013, for the ease of US companies specifically in the energy field to properly invest in the AANES. By doing so, the region will further develop and will benefit from significant financial returns, leading to self-dependence. Such a scenario would save the US from any additional financial responsibility to the region as is currently planned for Syria’s post-conflict stability stage. Third, on Turkish aggression, the US should pressure Ankara and stop their attacks on the Kurdish nation, mainly in Syria and Iraq. As Ahmed said, “When Turkey is fighting the PKK or other Kurdish group, it will always affect Syrian Kurds. We are all connected.” The Kurds are one nation and Turkey has opened three brutal fronts against them. Indeed, the invasion of Iraqi Kurdistan under the pretext of fighting the PKK has cast a heavy shadow over Syria. Words and pressure from Washington do matter for Turkey regardless of what Ankara may portray, as Erdogan’s political and economic troubles in Turkey and the country’s international crisis make Ankara much more reliant on the US as an ally, rather than an adversary. Fourth, the US, in joint effort with the European Union, the UK, and the UN, should support the inclusion of the AANES in any UN-backed peace negotiations over Syria. Though no talks over Syria, whether UN-backed or Russia-backed, has resulted in any progress, the inclusion of the AANES will ensure the participation of an entire third of the country. If there is an international consensus in AANES participation, Turkey would not be able to challenge it.
Ahmed closed with the message that the hope for a peaceful, democratic, diverse Syrian Republic may truly be realized, if all parties of the Syrian conflict can operate at the same level of recognition together, freeing the Syrian peoples from a conflict that has terrorized and hurt so many, for far too long.