Long before American support, & before the world knew their name, the Kurds of the YPG & YPJ fought ISIS & other extremist factions interlaced with the Syrian rebels.
The YPG/J believed from the beginning that the world would only learn their plight through their struggle.
The YPG/J believed from the beginning that the world would only learn their plight through their struggle.
Years later, American air strikes, training & intelligence helped the YPG against ISIS. Everyone knew it was transactional and of mutual interest, but the main thing this powerful foreign backer gave was confidence to the society the Kurds sought to reform.
[Photo: International Women’s Day is celebrated in Qamishlo / Qamishli while Turkish soldiers look on from across the border fence.]
Every YPG fighter I spoke to knew the USA would eventually leave, but Trump breaking the confidence of the fragile society around them with no warning or plan is the true stab in the back.
Before negotiating a peace deal w Damascus, Kurds needed a high position to protect themselves from a regime that never honored their culture & distinct place in the fabric of Syrian society. This was what Trump's sudden announcement stole from them.
[Photo: Streets of Damascus]
[Photo: Streets of Damascus]
Worse, now they go up against the most malevolent actor in the Syrian war- Turkey. A gov guilty of atrocious war crimes, ethnic cleansing in many parts of Syria, most recently in the Kurdish enclave of Afrin. A gov which too many US officials are too cowardly to speak out against
Turkey openly collaborated in a military offensive with extremists groups in Afrin that led to civilian executions, the rape of women, torture, and other unspeakable crimes against humanity. Yes, they got away with this. This fate could await the rest of Northern Syria.
YPG & Self Admin did what the US gov failed to do in every country they’ve interfered in: organized the society, created safe areas for NGOs, journalists & even human rights organizations who criticized them could operate.
[Photo: A statue commemorating martyrs of the YPJ]
[Photo: A statue commemorating martyrs of the YPJ]
If anything, it is the United States government who has more to learn from YPG, not the other way around.
[Photo: A mixed Arabic and Kurdish brigade of YPG fighters on the frontline against ISIS in al-Hawl.]
[Photo: A mixed Arabic and Kurdish brigade of YPG fighters on the frontline against ISIS in al-Hawl.]
Over my trips to Syria, I have witnessed the quick growth of this ragtag force into a powerful army. In December 2015, the YPG almost ran out of bullets during an offensive against ISIS while coalition jets were in the air doing airstrikes.
The machine gun that ran out of bullets defiantly held a portrait of their fallen female comrade Diljin Nergiz.
The US treated their Kurdish & Arab partners on the ground the same as the strikes: disposable. A slow drip of support. Never enough to see full self-determination
The US treated their Kurdish & Arab partners on the ground the same as the strikes: disposable. A slow drip of support. Never enough to see full self-determination
It is my belief that a solution to the Syrian crisis can only be solved with an eventual withdrawal of US forces, who are operating without approval from congress.
But this is not how it’s done. Instead of a encouraging a political solution, the Kurds were thrown to the wolves.
But this is not how it’s done. Instead of a encouraging a political solution, the Kurds were thrown to the wolves.
The YPG have struggled enough. They have lost enough sons and daughters. What is about to be foisted on them is needless and the deepest form of treachery.
[Photo: The destroyed streets of Kobane]
[Photo: The destroyed streets of Kobane]
