KNK dossier: ISIS attacks and Kurdish resistance in Kurdistan

By the KNK (Kurdistan National Congress):

A YPJ company celebrating victory on the front line and en route back to central Tirbespiye

A YPJ company celebrating a victory in Rojava (west Kurdistan), 2013

Introduction

In this dossier we wish to share with you important information about the ongoing war in Syria and Iraq. As you will gather from this information there is a great war happening in the Middle East and especially throughout Kurdistan. The report also shows that the terrorists of ISIS are carrying out a wholescale massacre against the Kurdish people and other ethnic and religious groups (Shia, Christian, Ezidi etc.) in the region. Kurds are engaged in a legitimate war of self-defence to put an end to this dirty war against humanity. They are fighting ISIS with limited arms and military technology and only have their willpower and the support of the people. The tragedy is that Kurds have been left alone in this war which threatens all of humanity. Despite this the Kurds are resolute in resisting.

Kurdish resistance for humanity and an equal life

Since the start of the war in Syria three years ago (2011), the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) among other terrorist groups, has become a scourge for our country Kurdistan, the Middle East and indeed rest of the world. This rise has been precipitated by the wrongheaded and short-sighted policies of Turkey, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and some western states. Eschewing a policy of ‘my enemy’s enemy is my ally,’ these states have helped strengthen ISIS, a monster that spreads nothing but savagery and death.

ISIS’s barbaric attacks against the Kurdish people and their gains in Western Kurdistan (Syrian Kurdistan) during the past two years went largely unnoticed until, on 10 June 2014 they captured Mosul (Iraq) and attracted the attention of international public opinion. With newly acquired heavy weaponry, ISIS then focused again on Western Kurdistan with the aim of massacring the Kurdish people in the Kobane Canton, one of the three autonomous states declared in Western Kurdistan a year ago, along with Cizirê and Efrin. However the Kurdish people mobilised en mass and offered unanimous support for the People’s Protection Units, the YPG and YJA (Kurdish military forces for those three cantons), fostering a historic resistance and repelling ISIS from the area.

It was after this defeat against Kurdish armed forces that the terrorist group attacked the South of Kurdistan (Iraqi Kurdistan). Since 3 August 2014 ISIS have been attacking one of the Kurdish nation’s most ancient and holy areas, Sinjar (Sengal) and its surroundings; massacring Ezidi Kurds (Yezidis), believers of the most ancient Kurdish religion. Following these attacks more than 50,000 Ezidi Kurds have taken refuge in the Sinjar mountains. More than 300,000 women, children and elderly people have been displaced. Thousands of women, their numbers still not clear, have been abducted and sold into slavery or have been victims of rape. The people in the Sinjar mountains are now confronting starvation and thirst. Almost 300 children have died from malnutrition and dehydration and this number continues to rise each day. According to reports hundreds of women have committed suicide in order not to fall into the hands of ISIS.

With their barbaric attacks against the peoples, religions and communities of Kurdistan and the Middle East, ISIS terrorists have committed crimes against humanity and have brought death and destruction to every household in the region. Beheadings, forced migration, the seizure of property and land, sexual attacks against women, mutilation of girls and the abandonment of children to starvation and death are ongoing in Kobane, Mosul, Sinjar and the UN governed Makhmour refugee camp as well as other areas of Kurdistan. Everything and everyone that is of historical value, including centres of religion, heritage and art, are targets for ISIS.

Kurdish defence forces are protecting the peoples of the region

The US and EU states are now finally acknowledging the humanitarian crisis and has offered aid. It is evident that this will not absolve them from the role they have played in strengthening ISIS. The well-tested imperialist policy of divide and rule has done nothing but engender ethnic and religious conflict among the diverse peoples of this ancient region. The Kurdish, Arab, Armenian, Turkmen and Assyrian peoples of the region have formed a common defence force against these policies and attacks. Kurds and the other oppressed communities and belief groups are using their own means and forces to resist the attacks against human values and decency. Faced with the heavy artillery and technical superiority possessed by ISIS, Kurdish defence forces are defending themselves with limited weaponry and military equipment. Male and female guerrillas who are engaged in this legitimate defence in West and South Kurdistan are not just struggling for Kurdish women and Kurds, nor just for the women and peoples of the Middle East, but for women and people who are struggling for progress, freedom and democracy all around the world. In effect they are engaged in an existential struggle for human honour and decency.

Unfortunately we cannot speak of an international counter struggle against ISIS and similar terrorist organisations until the powers supporting them are exposed and sanctions imposed against them by international states and powers. The states in question – Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey – must be brought to account and political and economic sanctions put into effect until they sever all ties with ISIS. The foremost responsibility of all international organisations and in particular the Western powers should be to support the resistance of the peoples under attack and the Kurdish defence forces resisting ISIS terrorists. This is a historical resistance for democracy and humanity.

KNK: Kongreya Neteweyi ya Kurdistane, Kurdistan National Congress, knklondon@gn.apc.org www.kongrakurdistan.net

 

One Response to KNK dossier: ISIS attacks and Kurdish resistance in Kurdistan
  1. Faryad Ibrahim
    August 12, 2014 | 15:23

    On the contrary, Barzani defence forces flee and retreat everywhere.

    Be neutral in judgmend.

    Kuridish poeple are left in lurch by Barzani forces…

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