ROJAVA – The Turkish state has dominated war and chaos in Syria, which it has attacked since October 25, 2012. The Turkish state, unable to digest the Kurds’ self-government with the Rojava Revolution on July 19, 2012, soon put into action dozens of plans to attack these gains. He wanted to realize these plans first through Al-Nusra, an extension of Al-Qaeda. When he could not achieve the desired goal in the face of the resistance of the Kurds, he activated the ISIS gang this time. At the same time, the Turkish state, which wanted to realize its plans with the coalition of gangs called ‘SMO’, did not get the expected result, and on August 24, 2017, it took its own army to the field.
IT STARTED WITH AL NUSRA
Al Nusra announced itself by posting a video on January 23, 2012 and claimed to have left Al Qaeda. Those who wanted to invade Rojava carried out their first attacks with Al Nusra on the Şêxmeqsûd and Eşrefiye Districts of Aleppo on 25-26 October 2012. 30 Kurds were killed in these attacks. On 27-30 October 2012, they attacked Afrin villages. A week later, on November 8, 2012, the Al Nusra people, who moved from the Ceylanpınar district of Riha to Serêkaniyê, tried to attract the Arab citizens in the city to their side, by falsely claiming that they were against the Syrian regime and were in the region for an alliance. When his lies were revealed later, he attacked Kurdish neighborhoods in the city on 19 November. In these attacks, Parliament Speaker Ebid Xelîl was killed. YPG fighters took action against Al Nusra, which attacked the people in the city until January 2013. As a result of the clashes, the city was cleared of Al Nusra. Many documents revealing their relations with Turkey were seized at their headquarters. Al Nusra, which later entered the terror list, became the ‘Fatah al-Sham Front’ on July 28, 2016; then, on January 28, 2017, the name was changed to Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) to create a new image.
THE DAESH gang LAUNCHED
When Al Nusra failed to be successful against the Kurds, the ISIS gang was put on the field this time in 2014. Invading Mosul and Shengal, ISIS has started to attack many regions of North-East Syria. After Raqqa and Tabqa were occupied, an intense attack was launched against Kobanê on the night of 14-15 September. Rojava defense forces and the people of the region, with a self-sacrificing spirit, resisted the brutal attacks of ISIS with individual weapons and won victory in Kobanê and started the process of defeat for ISIS as well. Then he continued his struggle until Manbij, Tabqa, Raqqa and ISIS’s last stronghold, Baxoz, and ISIS’s territorial domination was ended.
The Turkish state, which has not given up on the ISIS gang since 2014, has been the planner of many bomb attacks and massacres in the region. One of these planned attacks was the large bomb-laden pickup truck attack that took place in the Xerbî District of Qamishlo on July 27, 2016, in which 62 people were martyred and 176 people were injured.
DID HIS ARMY ON THE FIELD
When the Turkish state realized that it could not achieve the desired goal through its mercenaries, it took its own army into the field. It occupied the Syrian cities of Ezaz, Bab and Jarablus on August 24, 2017, under the name of “Operation Euphrates Shield”. In 2017, the Turkish state, which launched an invasion attack on Idlib, one of the largest cities in Syria, continues its efforts to completely seize Idlib, a part of which it occupied.
An invasion attack under the name ‘Operation Olive Branch’ was launched against Afrin on January 20, 2018. The Turkish state, which attacked with 72 warplanes, also carried out massacres against civilians, regardless of children and the elderly. In these attacks, in which thousands of people were killed, Afrin was occupied on March 18, 2018 and more than 300 thousand people from Afrin were forced to migrate to the surrounding cities.
The cities of Serêkaniyê and Girê Spî were also occupied by the Turkish state on October 9, 2019, under the name of ‘Operation Peace Spring’.
OCTOBER 17-22 CURRICULUM
While the invasion attacks against Serêkaniyê and Girê Spî continued, the region was left to the gangs with the ‘ceasefire agreement’ signed between the USA-Turkey on October 17, 2019, and Russia-Turkey on October 22, 2019. The Turkish state, together with the forces involved in the conspiracy, continues its invasion attacks under the name of ‘border security’ under the pretext that ‘Democratic Syrian Forces are violating the ceasefire’. The Turkish state, which attacked the region tens of thousands of times in this process, which entered its 4th year, caused great massacres, while powers such as the USA and Russia carried out a policy of connivance.
NEW OCCUPATION THREATS
The AKP-MHP government, which did not cease its threats of attack and occupation in North-East Syria, targeted Kobanê, Manbij and Til Rifet on June 1, 2022. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, “We are entering the new phase of our decision to create a 30-kilometer-deep safe zone along our southern borders. We are clearing Til Rifet and Manbij from terrorists.”
In his first statement regarding the Turkish state’s new invasion threats and attack plan, Mazlum Ebdi, Commander-in-Chief of the Democratic Syrian Forces, said, “For the last two years, Erdogan has been trying to take advantage of the political stalemate he has been experiencing in domestic politics by attacking the region. If they convince the parties and find the basis of the attacks, they will attack. We have been preparing for this war and self-defense for a long time. After what happened in Serêkaniyê and Girê Spi, we are preparing for a resistance. The people will resist us. It will be a fierce battle. I do not believe that Turkey will win. We are in favor of solving all problems through dialogue, but if there is an attack, we will resist.”
The Syrian Democratic Council (MSD), the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the North-East Syria Autonomous Administration, convened extraordinarily on June 11, 2022, following the new invasion threats to the region. At the meeting where the situation in the region and the latest developments were evaluated, it was reported that necessary precautions and preparations were taken in line with the experiences gained in Afrin, Serêkaniye and Girê Sipî.
TARGET REGIONS
Let’s take a look at the current situation in the targeted Kobanê, Manbij and Til Rifet regions.
Kobanê: 30 km west of the Euphrates River, 150 km from Aleppo, the city has a population of 300 thousand. The city center of Kobanê, with an area of 3,003 km², consists of 5 districts called Sirîn, Qinê, Şêran and Çelebi and 366 villages. Armenians and Arabs also live in the city, where 90% Kurds are the majority. Kobanê is a region where the defeat process of ISIS started. The city, which was secured by the Military Council and the Internal Security Forces, is an important area for the Autonomous Administration’s organization in the Euphrates Region. The people of Kobanê, who had to migrate as a result of the ISIS gang’s attack, insist on not leaving their city after the experiences they have gained. In addition to military organizations, the people also perform their own defense duties within the Social Defense Forces (HPC). On the border lines, there are forces affiliated with the Damascus administration.
Manbij: Located on the M4 road connecting the northern, eastern and western cities of Syria, the city is 25 km from the Euphrates River and 75 km from the city of Aleppo. It is a region where Arabs, Circassians, Turkmen and Kurds live together. Manbij, which was cleared of ISIS on August 15, 2016, also paved the way for the Afrin canton. The city, which is the gate of Shehba and the Euphrates of the North-East Syria Autonomous Administration, is of vital importance for the region. The Military Council and Internal Security Forces provide security in the city, which is one of the outstanding examples of the regions where the Democratic Nation project takes place. In addition, Russia and the Damascus administration also have military bases.
Til Rifet: The region, which the Turkish state calls as Til Rifet, is adjacent to Aleppo and is in a way defended by Aleppo. Consisting of approximately 80 villages and hamlets; This small region with a length of 65 km and a width of 10-15 km is also of strategic importance for Aleppo. The region, which was occupied by mercenaries affiliated with the Turkish state, was liberated on February 16, 2016 under the leadership of Cebhet El Ekrad, who is currently under the umbrella of the SDF. Afrin residents live in the region, whose cities are currently under occupation. There are also military bases of the forces of Russia, Iran and Damascus in the region.
CAN THERE BE OTHER TARGETS?
Is it possible to attack other cities other than the three targeted areas? The villages of Eyn Îsa and Girê Sipî, which are located around the occupied Girê Sipî and Serêkaniye and where attacks have continued uninterrupted until now; The Til Temir, Zirgan and Dirbêsiyê lines may also be attacked. It is also predicted that the region from the Tirbêspiyê district of Qamishlo to the city of Dêrîk, on the border of Başûr, Bakur and Rojavayê Kurdistan, may be the target of possible invasion attacks.
SCENARIO DRAWN IN TAKSİM
The fascist government, which threatened invasion on 1 June, drew up a bloody scenario to make up the justification for its attacks with gang organizations called MIT-SMO. They targeted YPG-YPJ forces with the explosion they carried out on 13 November 2022 in Istanbul/Taksim. He even wanted to narrow his target by claiming that ‘the attack was planned in Kobanê’. These fabrications are not the first. He had targeted Manbij closely in the action organized against the police station and lodgings in Mersin on September 26, just a short while ago.
NOVEMBER 19-20 BOMBARDMENT
The Turkish state started bombing the cities of Shehba, Kobanê, Zirgan and Derik in North-East Syria with warplanes and SİHAs at night connecting November 19 to November 20. Covid-19 hospital, school, civil settlements, infrastructure and service institutions etc. The Turkish state, which bombed many places such as Turkey, proudly announced this brutal attack with the title ‘Time for Account’. In the 10-day attack, 13 civilians were martyred and 14 civilians, including three children, were injured.
