Rojava in the new Syria: an update

Turkey is still bombing them and needs to be told to stop

A quick update on what’s going on in north east Syria, the region known to the Kurds as Rojava (but is multi-ethnic not just Kurdish). Unfortunately, because of Orientalist bias, you hear very little about this in the ‘mainstream’ press.

The Rojava representatives are very happy about the fall of Assad. They have had and continue to have contact with the HTS in Damascus who, it should be noted, do not control the whole of Syria, far from it. There is a lot of suspicion around the HTS because of their extremist past but everyone wants to give them a chance to build an inclusive new dispensation. Rojava wants a unified but confederal Syria, allowing for considerable autonomy in the north east and elsewhere. Personally, I think this is a very good idea given Syria’s complicated and (currently) fractured composition but it’s for the Syrians to decide. Rojava has governed itself since 2012. You cannot turn back the clock. But autonomy within a confederal system doesn’t mean seeking your own state, which is not Rojava’s goal.

More worryingly, the fall of Assad triggered Turkey to unleash the militias it backs against the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), Rojava’s multi-ethnic force, attacking the SDF in central Syria. Turkey itself is also bombing the SDF and Rojava more generally, including civilian infrastructure. Civilians are getting killed, as are journalists. War is continuing in Syria, but you wouldn’t know it from listening to the western press with its understandable but myopic focus on Damascus (another case of state-centrism I fear). Interestingly the news is more nuanced in the US, where there is a debate about whether the US should continue to back the SDF. This debate is not mentioned in the UK where, if Rojava is mentioned at all (and you won’t see that name), it is essentialised as ‘the Kurds’ which is a way of minimising what Rojava, a women-led multi-ethnic democracy, stands for and dismissing it as a kind of ethno-nationalist project, which it is not. I’ve had this argument with various journalists I know who, to be frank, are often very ignorant and prone to black-and-white depictions of complex Middle Eastern realities (who knew?).

If the US pulls out of the north east, Turkey is likely to take this as a signal to invade the region, which would be a disaster. Erdogan has openly talked about doing so. Trump’s intentions, as for so many things, are not clear. He is pally with Erdogan but the US also doesn’t want a resurgence of ISIS (over whom it was Trump who declared victory) which would be likely if the SDF were attacked by Turkey. The SDF control large camps of ISIS prisoners. Turkey has offered to run them but this lacks credibility given Turkey’s past links to Islamist groups. It is the SDF to whom credit should be given for any victory over ISIS. They lost ten thousand men and women fighters in that prolonged campaign (incidentally, its iconic battle, for the town of Kobani, will be commerorated tonight here in London). ISIS doubtless sees opportunity in the collapse of the Assad regime. They should not be allowed to take it.

Rojava’s representatives are fanning out (one leader is in London this week) to tell the world that they want a united, peaceful and democratic Syria. Indeed this is what they’ve been working for all along. Turkey must be restrained if ISIS is to be contained. This message has some resonance in Washington it seems, but it remains to be seen if the argument wins out in the face of Erdogan’s pressure when he is useful to the West in other ways including Ukraine (though of course Trump may not care about that) and stopping refugees coming to Europe (which means a lot to the likes of Germany and France). I’m disappointed that more is not made of the extraordinary democratic, feminist and ecological project of Rojava, as this alone is a good reason to support them.

In the meantime, there are ripples of something moving in Turkey’s war against its own Kurds, which is of course connected to Turkey’s aggressive attitude towards Rojava (as they claim the SDF and PKK are linked). There is talk of some kind of rapprochement and signals of open-ness to a new ceasefire with the PKK but it is impossible to tell and such rumours don’t square with Erdogan’s bellicose rhetoric and indeed the current actions of the Turkish military in attacking Rojava - and continued repression in south east Turkey. France is apparently leading efforts in this regard, as part of an attempt to build an overall new settlement in Syria and Turkey (ironic given France’s role in creating the whole post-Ottoman mess in the first place, but anyway). US policy will be determinative however.

It’s a fast moving situation and, interestingly, Twitter/X is one of the only ways to get information about it. I guess other social media too but I don’t use Insta or Tik Tok. I’m also in touch with Rojava’s (excellent) representatives in the UK and Europe. One good English-language account to follow on X is Matt Broomfield (@Mattbroomfield1), who set up the news resource centre the Rojava Information Centre (@RojavaIC) and who has just written an important new book about Rojava, coming out soon.

I’ll update if there’s further news.