Afrin and its People Will Never Surrender to Fascist Turkish Invaders and their Terrorist Lackeys!

Turkish-backed forces looting shops in Afrin AFP PHOTO / BULENT KILIC

By Dr. Rashid Karadaghi:

Today, the Turkish invaders and their Syrian Islamist terrorist allies entered Afrin and, as is their tradition, immediately started looting the city and kidnapping people for ransom as hundreds of thousands of innocent, mostly Kurdish, inhabitants of the beloved city were leaving it for a safer place, that is, if there is any real safe place left in Syria, thanks mostly to Turkey’s dirty war on the country for the past seven years.

The defenders of the city, men and women, young and old, and the innocent inhabitants, who fell victim to the barbarians have all entered the pantheon of Kurdish heroes of generations past and present before them. We bow our heads in their memory and vow to never forget. The Kurdish people are not new to tragedy. If you have any doubts, just take a quick look at their history.

Turkey must know , however, that despite its empty apparent temporary victory, it will be the loser in the end, for it has incurred the eternal hatred and wrath of over forty million Kurds, not to mention other freedom-loving people in the world who believe in the justice of their cause. No Kurd will ever forget Turkey’s blatant aggression and genocide in Afrin and elsewhere in Kurdish Rojava.

Apart from the humanitarian catastrophe that the Turkish invasion of Afrin has created, let alone all the human tragedies that the people of Syria have suffered in the past seven years in big part due to Turkey’s dirty games in that country aimed at denying the Kurds any of their national and democratic rights, it represents a real threat to all international norms of behavior and signals a very dangerous and scary period for the people of that region. If brute and unbridled force is to be held up as the modus operandi in our world, then may God help the human race! No sane person should ever stand for that.

If the new bully of the Middle East is not stopped and punished now, there will be no end to its territorial ambitions. Turkey has made its intentions clear to grab all of northern Syria and perhaps Mosul, too. It is the brutal Ottoman invasion of old all over again unless the countries that have the power to stop it wake up and without delay. If allowed, Turkey will devour as much territory as it can wherever and whenever possible. A silent world would guarantee a repeat of Europe’s experience with Hitler’s Nazi Germany.

One must wonder why the world is silent while a country is being invaded and its people subjected to genocide by another country for no reason other than the grabbing of territory and the wiping out of its people. Where is NATO when one of its members commits all these crimes? Where are the so-called Western democracies when everything and all the values they presumably hold high are violated in a brutal way?

The international community must investigate Turkish lies about the YPG, YPJ and other Syrian democratic forces presumably posing a threat to Turkish security. This is the wolf and sheep story all over again. Unfortunately, there are those in the West who believe Turkish baseless fabrications about border security. Let the UN and other credible international organizations investigate the truth or falsehood of the claim. Let the facts come out for the world to see.

The Kurdish people have faced genocide many times before and yet they are still around and are still a thorn in the eyes of their enemies. They have no intention to disappear. If Turkey thinks it can weaken the Kurds or wipe them out, it is deeply mistaken.

If there is any justice and morality left in our world, Turkey and its dictator and generals must be held accountable and punished not just for the invasion and destruction of Afrin but for their major role in causing the unspeakable crimes and atrocities that have happened in Syria since the start of the civil war seven years ago. The bully is now talking about sweeping through northern Syria and Mosul as well. The US and the rest of Western democracies must act now to prevent even greater tragedies. It is their moral, human, and political responsibility to do so without delay. The time to act is now.

Dr Rashid Karadaghi is the author of The Azadi English-Kurdish Dictionary, the most comprehensive English-Kurdish dictionary ever published. A retired teacher and translator living in the USA, he writes many articles on the Kurdish issue.