For all of the latest developments, see these sources
Rojava Information Center:
https://rojavainformationcenter.com
ANF English:
Hawar News:
Trump’s Syria “Withdrawal”: Where Less is Probably More
29 October 2019|Counterpunch
Since taking office Trump has boosted US troop levels in Syria from 500 or fewer under Barack Obama to at least 2,000 and possibly as many as 4,000. Even at its most ambitious, the supposed US “withdrawal” from Syria consisted of moving a few hundred soldiers across the border into Iraq, from which they could launch operations in Syria at will.
https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/10/29/trumps-syria-withdrawal-where-less-is-probably-more/
Ken Loach raises the Turkish invasion of Rojava on Question Time.
28 October 2019|Peace in Kurdistan, BBC
As Kurds Tracked ISIS Leader, U.S. Withdrawal Threw Raid Into Turmoil 28 October 2019|The New York Times
Even as the Syrian Kurdish fighters were risking their lives in the hunt that led to Mr. al-Baghdadi’s death this weekend, Mr. Trump abruptly shattered America’s five-year partnership with them.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/28/world/middleeast/isis-kurds-baghdadi.html
(VIDEO)A New Song Celebrating the Rojava Revolution
28 October 2019|Peace in Kurdistan
The Kurdish campaign for a new democratic feminist environmentalist civilization.
https://peaceinkurdistancampaign.com/2019/10/28/a-new-song-celebrating-the-rojava-revolution/
Syria: Damning evidence of war crimes and other violations by Turkish forces and their allies
26 October 2019|The Observer
Arab forces have allegedly been filmed torturing Kurdish fighters and mutilating bodies.
Maxine Peake condemns the Turkish invasion of Rojava and urges public support for the Kurdish people.
23 October 2019|Peace in Kurdistan
This is a women’s revolution. From the factories to the front lines, women are leading at every level of society. As Maxine says, the heart of this revolution is the spirit of internationalism and solidarity. 11,000 men and women of Rojava died in the fight against the fascism of the Islamic State. They gave their lives in the building of a better world. The world owes them a great debt and it’s time we repaid it!
Watch: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=HHrYj9ZbJdk&feature=youtu.be
Boycott call: https://boycott-turkey.net/call-to-boycott-turkish-government-sponsored-academic-and-cultural-%20institutions-2/
Turkey accused of spreading misinformation to force people out of their homes in northern Syria
24 October 2019|The Canary
Turkey has been accused of spreading misinformation aimed at forcing people to flee from their homes in northern Syria (aka Rojava). Turkish-led forces invaded Rojava on 9 October. The NATO member has faced accusations of ethnic cleansing and war crimes, and its illegal invasion has so far killed over 200 civilians, created around 300,000 displaced people, and allowed hundreds of Daesh (Isis/Isil) supporters to escape detention.
Syria and Iraq
24 October 2019|Hansard
Question for short debate asked by Lord McConnell of Glenscorrodale.
Hevrin Khalaf and the spirit of the democratic nation
24 October 2019|Roar Magazine
Days after Turkey’s invasion of Rojava, Kurdish politician Hevrin Khalaf was assassinated. In this interview from last year, she shares her thoughts on the Rojava revolution.
https://roarmag.org/essays/hevrin-khalaf-interview/
Syrian Kurds accuse Turkey of violating ceasefire
24 October 2019|Middle East Eye
The SDF have accused Turkey and its allies of continuing military operations in northern Syria despite a truce reached on Tuesday, and a peace plan announced by Russia.
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/syrian-kurds-accuse-turkey-violating-ceasefire
European arms & Turkey’s attack on Syrian Kurds – an explainer
24 October 2019|European United Left
On the 9th of October 2019, the Turkish army launched an invasion of Syria to occupy a strip of land 30 km-deep across the border. The stated objective of the offensive was to uproot the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which de facto governs northeastern Syria after it expelled ISIS with the help of the US army.
The Syrian Democratic Forces’ main unit is the YPG, composed of Syrian Kurds.
https://www.guengl.eu/issues/explainers/european-arms-turkeys-attack-on-syrian-kurds-an-explainer/
European leftists are rejecting the Kurds over their reliance on the US. It is just another disgusting betrayal
24 October 2019|The Independent
I have noticed that the Kurdish minority is the most modern and secular part of society, at a distance from every religious fundamentalism, with developed feminism, etc. In some senses, the Kurds ARE the only angels in that part of the world.
Julie Ward MEP raises her voice for Kurdistan
23 October 2019|Peace in Kurdistan
Julie Ward MEP addresses the European Parliament Millions of people from diverse ethnic and religious communities in this region are under threat. Tens of thousands have been displaced. Besides Kurdish and Arabic villages, Christian neighborhoods have been targeted. It’s obvious these attacks are carried out by Turkish military with the aim of ethnic cleansing and demographic change.
https://peaceinkurdistancampaign.com/2019/10/23/julie-ward-mep-raises-her-voice-for-kurdistan/
‘Cleaned out’ — the ongoing ethnic cleansing of Rojava
23 October 2019|Morning Star
Trump is now actively aiding the Turkish-FSA occupation and annexation of northern Syria, killing hundreds and displacing thousands.
https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/f/cleaned-out-ongoing-ethnic-cleansing-rojava
Turkey is cynically using Syrian refugees in its plans to ethnically cleanse northern Syria
23 October 2019|The Canary
Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdoğan plans to move at least one million refugees from all over Syria into the areas invaded by the Turkish military and its proxies in northern Syria (aka Rojava). But Erdoğan‘s plans have nothing to do with the welfare of Syrian refugees. Because his apparent aim is to ethnically cleanse the majority-Kurdish population of Rojava.
Hundreds of Artists, Academics, and Writers Have Signed a Petition Calling for a Boycott of Cultural Institutions in Turkey
23 October 2019|Artnet News
Nearly 300 cultural figures have come together to sign a petition against Turkish state-sponsored academic and cultural institutions. The petition, forged in response to the Turkish invasion of Kurdish regions of Syria, calls for a boycott of “events, activities, agreements, or projects involving [the] Turkish government or government-funded cultural institutions.”
https://news.artnet.com/art-world/boycott-turkey-petition-1687222
Syrian Christians condemn Turkish invasion and warn of potential genocide
23 October 2019|Morning Star
Syrian Christians united to condemn attacks by Turkish forces and their jihadist allies in northern Syria today and started a “genocide watch” as hundreds of thousands fled their homes. The Syriac Strategic Research Centre warned that Isis fighters had caused a “large migration” of Christians from an area east of the River Euphrates as they swept across the region.
Trump and the Retreat of the American Empire
22 October 2019|Robert Fisk, Counterpunch
Contrary to the Hollywood version of history, the Roman empire did not collapse in a couple of days. The Goths, Ostrogoths and Visigoths did not just gobble up Italy over a weekend. The fall of the empire came slowly, over years, in small incremental pieces: legions forgotten, tribal allies unpaid – and then betrayed.
https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/10/22/trump-and-the-retreat-of-the-american-empire/
The Long Kurdish Struggle
22 October 2019|Rosa Burc, The New York Times
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s war is an ethnonationalist attack on Kurds and their aspirations.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/22/opinion/erdogan-kurds-syria.html#click=https://t.co/LqzOp0GgHb
America abandons the Kurds
21 October 2019|London Review of Books
Turkey’s incursion into northern Syria has displaced tens of thousands of civilians, most of them Syrian Kurds. As with the Turkish army’s forays into Jarabulus in August 2016 and Afrin in March 2018, its reliance on Syrian Arab militias for the assault has not lessened the impression of vengeful marauding. (Many of the militias were once supported by the United States and Britain in their abortive attempt to bring down Bashar al-Assad.)
https://www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2019/october/america-abandons-the-kurds
Humanitarian crisis looms in Rojava as mass displacement of Kurds expected
21 October 2019|Morning Star
Mass displacement of civilians in northern Syria is creating a humanitarian crisis as jihadist forces were poised to cross the Turkish border with the “ceasefire” set to end tomorrow.
The Declaration of the 19th General Assembly of the Kurdistan National Congress (KNK)
18 October 2019|Kurdistan National Congress
The 19th General Assembly of the Kurdistan National Congress (KNK) was held at a time when the Turkish state has launched an operation of annihilation against the Kurdish people and the Kurdistanian entities. Jarablus and Azaz were not enough, the Turkish state occupied Afrin. Neither did it stop there, it now wants to occupy Serêkaniyê and Girê Sipî, where intense aerial and ground attacks have turned the life of people into an inferno.
It’s Curtains For US In Syria. Russia, Iran Owe Big Thanks To Erdogan
16 October 2019|Oriental Review
The scenario agreed on behind the curtains through months of confidential exchanges, often one-on-one, between the Russian and Turkish leaders regarding north-eastern Syria is entering a critical phase of implementation on the ground with the agreement between the Kurds and the Assad regime.
Trump’s Betrayal Of The Kurds Will Echo For Generations
12 October 2019|HuffPost
Kurds have come to deeply value their collective memory. The next generation won’t forget U.S. support for Turkey’s bloody move into Syria.
Legal action against the Turkish government.
Crowdjustice
My name is Dirk Campbell. My daughter Anna travelled to Syria to join the Kurdish resistance against Daesh. In March 2018, Anna was killed in Afrin, northwestern Syria, by a Turkish air strike. I need to raise an initial £10,000 to take the first step and prepare the case for legal action. That’s 400 people giving £25 each. This money is to gather evidence, interview witnesses, make formal representations to the Turkish government and establish what next steps can and should be taken .
https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/bring-anna-home