Turkey’s Recent Offensive Threatens the Women’s Revolution in Rojava
Since the beginning of October, Turkey has assailed the autonomous-administrated areas of North and East Syria with drones, fighter jets, and artillery, citing a suicide bomb attack—carried out by a pair of militants from the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) next to the parliament building in Ankara—as justification. Amid the assault, Rojava, the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES), and the Kurdish, Arab, Armenian, Circassian, Turkmen, and Assyrian populations living in the region are all in the line of fire. Not only does Turkey’s recent offensive endanger civilians and critical infrastructure and facilities, but it also threatens the achievements—and very survival—of the women’s revolution that has been taking place there for over a decade.
But apart from a civil society in solidarity, there has hardly been any public outcry. The international community is looking away.
For these reasons, on behalf of the Kongra Star Women’s Movement and seven other women’s associations of different ethnic and religious groups living in North and East Syria, we sent an open letter on October 10 to the United Nations Secretary General and other UN bodies, such as the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Security Council, calling on the UN to follow its own charter, take a stand against Turkey’s human rights and war crimes, and actively work to prevent them.
For us, it has always been shocking to see that war crimes are measured not by their essence but by political and strategic interests. War crimes against the people of Ukraine, and currently in Israel and Palestine, are loudly denounced by the international public. And yet, Turkey’s war crimes against the people of North and East Syria have not been named or condemned by any official body to date—including the United Nations. It is precisely this silence, as well as the impunity of the illegitimate occupation policy, that has encouraged and enabled the Turkish state to continue its violent campaign.
Since October 4, not a day has gone by without drone strikes or heavy weapons fire by Turkey. Every day, people are killed or injured, and more vital utilities are destroyed. These include water supplies, health facilities, energy supplies such as power plants and transformer stations, oil or gas facilities, food production such as farms and grain depots, as well as homes and workplaces, inhabited villages, cotton plantations, brick and cement factories, and many others. All of these attacks violate international humanitarian law and can be classified as war crimes under the Geneva Conventions and the Rome Statute.
The Turkish state is deliberately attacking the AANES as a project of the Kurdish people in North and East Syria as part of its larger nationalist campaign to deny and destroy the identity of the Kurds, perpetrating massacres against the Kurdish people not only in Turkey but also in regions populated by Kurds in neighboring countries, such as Iran, Iraq, and Syria.
The current attacks are part of this strategy of extermination, but above all they are an attack on the idea behind the establishment of the Autonomous Administration in North and East Syria. Inspired by the analyses of Abdullah Öcalan, the idea that it is possible for a society to organize itself in a self-determined and confederal way beyond the state is being put into practice. Fundamental principles in it are democracy, ecology, and the freedom of women.
On this basis, a model has been developed for a respectful, peaceful, and ethical coexistence of the most diverse ethnic and religious communities in the region, which, at the same time, guarantees the political and social participation—and freedom—of women like no other.
Twenty years ago, we started to organize as Kurdish women in Rojava. Since the revolution in 2012, we have taken responsibility in building a democratic system based on women’s freedom. This women’s revolution not only opened an alternative path for Kurdish women and Kurdish society but inspires women of all communities in the region. It gives hope and encourages all women fighting for freedom and peace—against war, exploitation, and oppression in the Middle East.
In North and East Syria today, we have grown into a strong, multiethnic women’s movement. We have built independent women’s structures, councils, and associations, and we have achieved an awareness in society in which a life women’s freedom is inconceivable. We participate and struggle every day in all political bodies and social institutions to uphold and further improve these structures.
As women, we have participated in the fight against the Islamic State (IS) and made heavy sacrifices to protect our society and all the peoples living here, as well as defend our freedom against the terror group’s regressive, fundamentalist ideology.
We also understand the current declaration of war and attacks by the Turkish state as attacks against the strong women’s movement in the region. They too arise from a fundamentalist and misogynist worldview, represented by the country’s political leadership.
In 2018, Turkey invaded and occupied the city of Afrin in violation of international law. For the people living there, human rights and war crimes have been part of everyday life. Reports of armed groups pillaging, looting, torturing, and committing other acts of violence against civilians have been documented—along with credible reports of women being forcibly disappeared since the occupation.
Since 2020, Turkey has systematically used combat drones to assassinate women activists, politicians, and women leaders working for peace, women’s freedom, self-determination, and the building of our democratic society in North and East Syria.
More recently, a Turkish drone carried out the murders of Yusra Darwish, co-chair of the Qamishli canton’s administrative council, her deputy Liman Shawish, and Women’s Protection Units (YPJ) commander Shervin Sardar, who made an important contribution in the fighting against IS.
With this open letter, we want to break the silence against these attacks. We have formulated concrete proposals and demands on how the UN can help prevent war crimes by Turkey. This includes the establishment of a no-fly zone over northern and eastern Syria to prevent the bombing of civilian infrastructure as well as halt the ongoing drone war.
We have not yet received a response, but we women know the importance of the women’s revolution in North and East Syria and its achievements, and we are determined to defend them, to demand our rights, and to never give up.
