We are fighting America’s war on terror right here on the ground,” says Kurdish fighter Dijwar Osman. “Our enemies are those al Qaeda fighters who want to destroy our 4,000-year-old Kurdish culture. These jihadists come from Belgium, Holland, Morocco, Libya, and other countries. Unfortunately, the U.S. and Turkey are on the side of al Qaeda, just like the U.S. was on al Qaeda’s side in Afghanistan during the ’80’s
This is the hard punch from the same article: “They have their own army and police here, names of towns have been changed from Arabic to Kurdish, and the Kurdish language is being taught in schools — something that was forbidden under the Assad regime.”
Call this lead still hot:
People’s Defense Units (YPG) and Women’s Defense Units (YPJ) guerrillas in Rojava are engaged in fighting al-Qaeda-linked armed groups since 15 July 2013. A remarkable part of the region has been cleared of the gang groups as a result of the resistance by Kurdish guerrillas as well as by local people supporting them in the villages, towns, districts and provinces of western Kurdistan.
Firatnews. “The Kurdish resistance in the villages of Rojava.” August 29, 2013.
An Islam tolerant of others may be tolerated, and for all outside its Ummah, as much seems a theme heavily argued.
However, the better nature of human nature may fit with nature: a still wild species would seem Homo sapiens sapiens in a still wild world where abundance and variety fill out to their edges every physical, political, and social niche. There are no tribes that would regard themselves as other than a “First People” but even the Jews — perhaps simply the Jews — recognize the chosen qualities in others and unless assaulted leave each to go their way.
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“Rojava Genocide”, posted to YouTube August 9, 2013.
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Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Ministry of Peshmerga secretary-general Jabbar Yawar told Asharq Al-Awsat that the Kurdish military delegation “informed the Iraqi side of the Peshmerga ministry’s complete readiness to send its forces to any spot in Iraq to confront terrorism, in the event of the federal Ministry of Defense requesting this.”
Asharq Al-Awsat. “Kurdish Peshmerga ready to confront terrorism across Iraq.” August 4, 2013.
After so many years of state-related parlay, the pressure placed on the Kurds by the forces of Islamic Jihad seems to have wrested Kurdish space from state control in Syria and encouraged Kurdish martial consolidation and political solidarity in line with self-government.
While Putin plays Syria for all it’s worth — I should think the Greek Orthodox Church and the Ayatollah’s enterprise have the deepest of natural disaffinities — and Cameron plus Obama work with Qatar plus the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, history (plus a little chaos theory by way of the Al Qaeda types) may have just brought the Kurdish community an opportunity to settle down to defending itself in its own space.
We shall see.
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Kurdish-inhabited area by CIA (1992). Secondary source: Wikimedia Commons.
Lest any get carried away with the above map, reference back to Wikipedia’s “Syrian Kurdistan” page may be helpful. From that page:
During the Syrian civil war, the Popular Protection Units (YPG) were created under the administration of the Kurdish Supreme Committee to control the Kurdish inhabited areas in Syria. On 19 July 2012, the YPG captured the city of Kobanê (Ayn al-Arab), and the next day captured Amûdê and Efrîn.[6] The two main Kurdish groups, theKurdish National Council (KNC) and the Democratic Union Party (PYD), afterwards formed a joint leadership council to run the captured cities.[6] By 24 July, the Syrian Kurdish cities of Dêrika Hemko (Al-Malikiyah), Serê Kaniyê (Ra’s al-‘Ayn), Dirbêsî (Al-Darbasiyah) and Girkê Legê (Al-Ma’bada) had also come under the control of the Popular Protection Units. The only major Kurdish inhabited cities that remained under government control were Hasaka and Qamishli.[7][8]
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Sky News Kurdish Women Fighters Battle In Aleppo
Although the above clip appears to have been posted to YouTube today, I believe it actually comes from Stuart Ramsay’s report for Sky News, “Syria: Kurdish Women Fighters Battle in Aleppo,” May 20, 2013. From that source:
It is a mess, and the government with support from Hezbollah and Iran is reinvigorated, making or taking back new and old ground daily.
But the revolution is ongoing. Huge swathes of the country are outside government control and the many, many people I meet are happy with that.
Additional Reference
Colling, Andre. “The impact of the Syrian conflict on neighbouring states.” News24, August 27, 2013.
Huffington Post. “Turkey Kurdish Conflict”.
Kurd Press. “Number of Syrian in Kurdistan Region exceeds 200,000.” August 28, 2013.
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