NEWS CENTER – This analysis wrote by a group of fininsh volunteers that were present in the North and East Syria, Rojava Kurdistan, was published originaly on the finish newspaper Voima.
We are not surprised, but still very disappointed by Finland’s decision to submit to Turkey’s demands. We see that Finland, apparently against the will of the majority, may be involved in accepting Turkey’s threatened attack on North and North-Eastern Syria and is also endangering the safety of the Kurds living in Finland under the agreement it made with Turkey.
Although Turkey claims to practice a multi-party system, in reality it is comparable to a terrorist state. Turkey is directly involved in armed conflicts or supports the parties to them, often outright terrorist organizations, in Syria, Iraq, Armenia and Libya. It has been proven that Turkey has been supporting the growth of ISIS and other jihadist terrorist organizations in the northern and northeastern region of Syria for years. The Turkish state has supported e.g. financially, in recruitment, acquired weapons, organized armed training, and offered terrorists free access to the region through the border crossing from Turkey, known as the “jihadist highway”. Cooperation is also indicated by the fact that, for example, in the large-scale occupation operation launched in 2019 in the region of northern and northeastern Syria, Numerous jihadist terrorist groups fought alongside Turkey. In the northern and northeastern Syrian region of Rojava, Turkish attacks kill civilians almost every week. In the past, the region has been the most peaceful of the Syrian war, and Russia, for example, has not bombed there in the same way as in Western Syria. However, after the war of aggression in 2019, Turkey has continuously carried out attacks in the region, which have not exceeded the news threshold in Finland. Turkey made its latest attack on Wednesday, June 29, 2022, when it fired artillery at the village of Arab Hassan, killing two civilians. With such strikes, Erdoğan keeps the war going at a low intensity. At the same time as Turkey has held NATO negotiations with Finland and Sweden, there is a president Attacks by Turkey kill civilians almost every week. In the past, the region has been the most peaceful of the Syrian war, and Russia, for example, has not bombed there in the same way as in Western Syria. However, after the war of aggression in 2019, Turkey has continuously carried out attacks in the region, which have not exceeded the news threshold in Finland. Turkey made its latest attack on Wednesday, June 29, 2022, when it fired artillery at the village of Arab Hassan, killing two civilians. With such strikes, Erdoğan keeps the war going at a low intensity.
At the same time as Turkey has held NATO negotiations with Finland and Sweden, there is a president Attacks by Turkey kill civilians almost every week. In the past, the region has been the most peaceful of the Syrian war, and Russia, for example, has not bombed there in the same way as in Western Syria. However, after the war of aggression in 2019, Turkey has continuously carried out attacks in the region, which have not exceeded the news threshold in Finland. Turkey made its latest attack on Wednesday, June 29, 2022, when it fired artillery at the village of Arab Hassan, killing two civilians. With such strikes, Erdoğan keeps the war going at a low intensity. At the same time as Turkey has held NATO negotiations with Finland and Sweden, there is a president However, after the war of aggression in 2019, Turkey has continuously carried out attacks in the region, which have not exceeded the news threshold in Finland. Turkey made its latest attack on Wednesday, June 29, 2022, when it fired artillery at the village of Arab Hassan, killing two civilians. With such strikes, Erdoğan keeps the war going at a low intensity. At the same time as Turkey has held NATO negotiations with Finland and Sweden, there is a president However, after the war of aggression in 2019, Turkey has continuously carried out attacks in the region, which have not exceeded the news threshold in Finland. Turkey made its latest attack on Wednesday, June 29, 2022, when it fired artillery at the village of Arab Hassan, killing two civilians. With such strikes, Erdoğan keeps the war going at a low intensity. At the same time as Turkey has held NATO negotiations with Finland and Sweden, there is a president Erdoğan threatened to attack northern and northeastern Syria with a larger force.
The social order of the autonomous region of northern and northeastern Syria, as well as the PKK’s struggle, are based on ideas of direct democracy, ecology and women’s liberation. Women’s organization and political participation is the area that is most strongly realized in practice. In the Middle East torn apart by conflicts and terrorism, these models represent genuine hope for a better future and the possibility of building peaceful societies, based on gender equality. Finland has now sold these values and hope to boost its own position. It is understandable that Finland wants to protect Putin. From Russia, which has also shown the face and intentions of a dictator. Still, Finland should not trust Turkey, because Erdoğan is waging war with the same intentions as Putin. Just as Putin lies about the war in Ukraine and censors Russian media, Erdoğan has also become famous for lying, censoring the internet, and imprisoning journalists. What makes all of this even more ludicrous is that the Kurdish YPG forces are fighting as part of the SDF, which has sacrificed more than 13,000 of its soldiers in the fight against the terrorist organization ISIS, which has been actively supported by the Turkish state. In addition to the Kurds, the SDF forces consist of Arabs, Armenians and Assyrians. The reconstruction of the area and the maintenance of the Al-Holi camp, for example, have been left almost entirely to the local administration without any external support.
It should also be mentioned that in the chaos caused by a possible new attack by Turkey, there is a high probability that ISIS fighters and leaders and their families will be able to escape from the Al-Holi camp. It is clear as day that this would threaten not only the security of the people of the Middle East region, but also the security of all of us here in Europe and elsewhere.
For Erdoğan, the success of threats and blackmail is also a domestic political victory in a situation where he has been desperately looking for such before next year’s elections. In Turkey, Erdoğan’s regime also persecutes members of the Kurdish party in the country’s parliament, the HPD, over 10,000 of whom have been sentenced to prison on trumped-up charges – often specifically accused of terrorism.
Finland should support local efforts to promote democracy and women’s freedom, and not participate in destroying these efforts by agreeing to Turkey’s demands. In your example, by selling weapons to Turkey, Finland directly enables Turkish state terror. In the long term, we in Finland will also benefit from the increase in equality in the Middle East. Turkey’s actions, like Russia’s elsewhere, destroy women’s self-determination efforts and society’s opportunities for equality.
As YPJ and YPG veterans and volunteers working in civil society, we have seen our friends fight, shed blood, sacrifice their lives and parts of their own bodies in the fight against ISIS and other jihadists and Turkish wars of aggression, and now we see our own government and president smilingly taking sides with this evil. We do not accept the lives of our Kurdish friends to be sacrificed for the sake of bowing to Turkey. Our country’s politicians can explain the agreement however they want, but Finland bowing before Erdoğan is a shameful moment that history and all people fighting for freedom will remember.
A group of Finnish volunteers who worked in northern and northeastern Syria
