Rojava: The darkness may seem impenetrable, but the light is stronger

Talks between Turkey and Russia, concluded with an “agreement”, are the continuation of the “Ceasefire Agreement” between USA and Turkey in Ankara on October 16th, which legitimized the occupation of Rojava.

The negotitations between USA and Turkey, to take place during Erdoğan’s visit in the US on November 13th, are certainly going to be a continuation and completion of the talks in Russia the day before.

The 10-point agreement, published  after a five hour long meeting between Putin and Erdoğan, is an agreement of surrender for Serêkaniyê and Girê Spî to Turkey and ISIS by the UN, USA, and Russia. It is a contract confirming the “Ceasefire Agreement” approved in Ankara, and ending the 8-year-long de-facto government of the Kurds in Northern Syria.

That Turkey is going back and forth between USA and Russia doesn’t change the fact that this trio is pursuing a common plan regarding Rojava and Kurds.

USA and Russia, and Syria and Turkey, have been in a strategic partnership since the beginning, despite the contradictions and disputes between them. This is a partnership based upon the destruction of the system of autonomous cantons, by tearing the cantons of Efrîn, Kobanê ve Cizre apart.

The aim of Turkey is more visible and clear. It is the eternal and perpetual anti-Kurdish hatred founded on the fact that the Kurds never get any status.

USA and Russia are “solving” the problems in the Middle East through contradictions and conflicts of ethnicity, religion and religious denominations. The system of Democratic Confederalism however, led by the Kurds in Rojava and Northern Syria, doesn’t see ethnicity, religion and sectarian differences as an area of contradiction and conflict. It acknowledges these differences as the richness of social reality, pluralism and participation.

This difference is not an insignificant, abstract and theoretical discussion in the debates about Syria; it is a vital choice for a new Syria to be established after the war. The visible and living system of autonomous government based on cantons, when it moved from an intent to a fact, has been an annoying model for the regimes of USA, Russia, Turkey and Syria.

That’s why the USA and Russia have become partners in the matter of Syria, which is divided according to the policies they have followed so far by geography, religion, religious denominations and ethnicity. The provision included in the text of the Russian-Turkish agreement from the day before, “The two sides reiterate their commitment to the preservation of the political unity and territorial integrity of Syria and the protection of national security of Turkey”, is a huge lie put into writing.

By surrendering first Jarablus and Azaz, then Efrîn and thereafter Serêkaniyê and Girê Spî to Turkey and ISIS gangs, USA and Russia have divided the Syrian territory with their own hands, and by using Turkey. They let Turkey sit on the side of the “victors” at the table of a political solution, although with its gangs it had been defeated by the Kurds on the battlefield. The ones talking about “the preservation of the political unity and territorial integrity of Syria” are at the same time surrendering its territory piece by piece to Turkey and the gangs of ISIS.

Another aspect of the tragicomic resolution of the Russia-Turkey agreement is to leave the duty to protect Syria’s territorial unity and political integrity not to the Syrian Army, but to the “Syrian National Army”, consisting of gangs under the auspices of the Republic of Turkey. With this agreement, Russia has agreed to partner and cooperate with the segments it has called gangs and terrorists in the past.

For those who have transformed the struggle into a way of life, it should be essential to take something good out of this calamity, even if the cost is very severe. Because all these negativities stem from the denial of an experience created by the struggle for humanity. What is happening is the inevitable consequence of relying on focal points of power and hegemons, rather than using its own power, its own dynamics and possibilities.

The Kurds and other peoples living in northern Syria cannot be liberated by relying on the United States or Russia and abandoning themselves to the compassion and mercy of hegemons.

For the Kurds and other peoples now living in northern Syria, a tremendous global opportunity to oppose fascism-occupation and colonialism has come up. A great international solidarity has developed, which the Kurds, socialists, and all revolutionaries have spoken about for years.

A major global alliance has been born, entering into solidarity with Rojava and the Kurdish people against the partnership created by USA-Russia-Turkey/ISIS. Different peoples, political parties, student associations, trade unions and women’s movements from four continents are occupying public spaces against the Turkish fascism led by Erdoğan; forcing their own parliaments and governments to take a stance. These relations are very effective and valuable in the struggle for freedom for the Kurds and for those defending Rojava. It is important and necessary is to make these alliances and relationships permanent through organizing.

The essential thing is to be able to look at the right place, from the right place in the right way. Those who look from the right place will be able to easily see the light beams that break the darkness. Yes, the darkness may seem impenetrable, but the light is stronger.

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