On the morning of Wednesday 9 October 2019 Turkish State forces began military attacks against Northeast Syria / Rojava, both with shelling from the air and also ground incursions and conflict across the border with Turkey.
These attacks come directly after United States President Trump announced a withdrawal of US troops from the region, sending a clear signal to Turkish President Erdoğan that the United States would abandon their former allies in the Kurdish-led YPG and broader SDF forces now that they have successfully territorially defeated ISIS.
At the time that the war began, the Solidarity Economy Association had a renewable energy engineer in Rojava carrying out tests for projects we have been planning together with the autonomous women’s economy structures in the region. He has now left the region and is safe.
The Turkish State’s military attacks on the region, and the political decisions which have been taken by the United States government, as well as the lack of support from all other governments around the world and the ‘international community’ mean that four million lives are now in danger, hundreds of co-operatives, thousands of schools, academies and ecological projects, democratic assemblies, women and youth organisations, which have all been set up since the start of the Rojava Revolution seven years ago, are all now under threat.
This would mean a devastating loss for the entire planet of the most ambitious and successful project to create a world where women’s freedom and ecology are embedded in the democratic organisation of society – a democracy without a state, where decisions are made by citizen assemblies, councils and committees, and where co-operatively run businesses and neighbourhood projects give people direct control over their lives.
We strongly condemn the Turkish government’s assault on what was a very stable and peaceful region inside Syria. We believe that there is a real danger that these attacks could lead to ethnic cleansing and mass slaughter, not only of the Kurdish majority population, but also of the Armenian and Assyrian Christian populations who are themselves descended from genocide survivors who fled Turkey 100 years ago.
The Solidarity Economy Association send our absolute solidarity to all those struggling and fighting for a free life and new feminist, ecological and truly democratic future in Northeast Syria.
Bijî berxwedana Rojava – Berxwedan jîyan e – Jin, jîyan, azadî!
Long live the resistance of Rojava – Resistance is life – women, life, freedom!
#RiseUp4Rojava
Actions you can take to support the resistance and help defend Rojava:
- SIGN this petition: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/276661
- DONATE to Heyva Sor: http://www.heyvasoruk.org/
- FOLLOW #RiseUp4Rojava (https://riseup4rojava.org/) and #WomenDefendRojava (https://womendefendrojava.net/) on social media and help spread the information on their websites
- JOIN one of the many demonstrations being called: https://www.facebook.com/pg/KurdistanSolNet/events/
- CONTACT your local solidarity group, or start up a new one: https://kurdishsolidaritynetwork.wordpress.com/uk-solidarity-groups/
