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Nurses tend to a child burned by Turkish chemical weapons attack, Rojava
By Aram Aziz:
Kurds in Rojava have so far been unable to do what they need to do. In truth, Kurds should be able to resolve their cause at the negotiation table: why should they always have to fight to the end? The Kurdish politicians and leaders must revise what has happened over the last two decades for political and emotional reasons. In 2016, for example, Kurdish politicians planned to organise a conference for representatives of the whole Kurdish nation from all four parts in Kurdistan. That plan was aborted, due to the concessions made by various politician to their neighbouring states and their careless attitude towards their national cause. That conference for all the Kurds never took place. At that time, Masoud Barzani was supposed to contact Turkey to organise a meeting between the leaders of Rojava and Erdogan, the president of Turkey; however, the preparations never materialized, partly because Rojava was suspicious of Turkey’s and Barzani’s intentions. Turkey’s history and background has prevented any peace process or negotiated settlement being completed with the Kurdish movement in Turkey or Syria. Therefore, we are unable to predict whether any meeting would produce anything for Rojava, or would be futile.
Mazlum Kobani the commander of the SDF, accepted an agreement with the Syrian regime to protect Rojava. The SDF has also accepted the ceasefire with Turkey on 17th October 2019 even though it was prepared by the US government. Observers understand the desperation of the Rojava leaders to save the lives of millions of their citizens, including Christians, living in the self-ruled region of Rojava and facing the brutality of Turkey’s military forces. Erdogan, the president of Turkey and the leader of this war criminal operation, has confirmed that it is their intention to go inside Syria by 30km by force on the pretext that they are building a safe haven or buffer zone. The Turkish invasion over the course of eight days could not achieve this goal but they have tried instead to achieve it through a few hours of negotiations with the US administration led by Mark Pence. Turkey’s military forces claim to have been given all authority to deal with the SDF and point six of the agreement even refers to the PKK after Trump disgracefully described the PKK as “worse than ISIS”. Finally, there cannot be a lasting and just solution arising from any negotiations unless the SDF, the armed forces of Rojava, are given their place at the table.
Aram Aziz is a writer who originates from South Kurdistan
