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Sheikh Maksud district
By Dr Jan Best de Vries:
From the beginning of the so-called civil war in Syria in 2012, the Kurdish civilian inhabitants of Aleppo’s northern district Sheikh Maksud have during the last five years been protected by the YPJ and YPG against attacks from both Hezbollah and salafist rebels supported by Turkey. Conflicts between the regular army of Mr Assad and the Kurdish people’s army YPJ/YPG have been avoided by both parties, because the administration of Rojava’s districts Jazira, Gire Spi, Kobani and Efrin is not at war with Mr Assad, but is waiting patiently for a political solution of the present, raging war in Syria and just defends these Syrian territories against raids of both IS and its (former?) ally Turkey.
After the fall of Aleppo, so far its district Sheikh Maksud has been stormed neither by Mr Assad’s army and Russian troops, nor by the Lebanese Hezbollah and Iranian Pasdaran. This makes Sheikh Maksud an indispensable barometer for the chance of a future establishment of a stable, secular and democratic government in Syria which, after the departure of all foreign troops, will represent all ethnic and religious groups within a country based on an artificial, geographic construction, devised for the use of its oilfields by a French, formerly colonial, government a century ago. For this is the real problem for each regime in Syria — not just that of Mr Assad, but for any administration — that at the time of the French mandate and since then no political parties within the area of the present Republic of Syria have been consulted about the foundation of Syria as a state.
The Americans don’t realize that their own policy in Iraq has created the monster of IS and that they themselves are the hostages of Mr Erdogan in his war against the Kurds in both Turkey and Syria in considering the PKK and the PYD as terrorist organizations, whereas both only strive for a measure of administrative autonomy within Turkey and Syria, artificial constructions following the disappearance of the Ottoman Empire. It is to be hoped that the Russians will protect the Kurds against genocide in these two countries, as the hands of the Americans are bound by their NATO obligations to Mr Erdogan, and that Mr Putin may bring peace to West Asia at last.
My sincere and warm condolences to the Russian people for the loss of the, mostly young, lives of the members of the Alexandrov Ensemble and the other passengers and members of the crew. When will the terror stop?
Jan Best de Vries – guest teacher at the University of Aleppo (Qamishlo) and the Yekitiya Star Akademiya (Rimelan)
