MEDİNE MAMEDOĞLU

 Amed- The Turkish state has intensified its attacks on North and East Syria since Turkey’s Foreign Minister claimed that the assailants behind Ankara’s attack on October 1 had received training in Syria. Since October 5, the Turkish warplanes, drones, artillery and mortars have been targeting civilian settlements and vehicles, electric power stations, gas stations, water resources and energy supplies, oil fields, health centers, hospitals, schools and oil fields in North and East Syria. According to the latest statement released by the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES), more than 500 areas have been targeted, many civilians, members of the Internal Security Forces and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have been killed in the Turkish attacks.

NuJINHA spoke to Newroz Uysal, one of the lawyers of Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan and Peoples' Equality and Democratic Party (HEDEP) Şırnak MP, about the aims of the Turkish attacks on NE Syria and war policies in the Middle East.

“Both war crimes and crimes against humanity are being committed in Rojava,” said Newroz Uysal, pointing out that the attacks were planned gradually although North and East Syria pose any threat to Turkiye.

Speaking about the aims of the Turkish attacks, she said, “Since the beginning of the revolution in NE Syria, the new system and status in Rojava have been perceived as a threat by Turkiye. Although the AANES has announced many times, ‘We do not pose a threat to Turkiye’, the Turkish state sees the new system in NE Syria as a threat and it has carried out both military and political attacks on the region. In recent years, it has launched airstrikes on the region at regular intervals. It occupied Afrin and Serekaniye (Ras al-Ayn) by launching ground operations.”

‘The common life and the system based on democracy in Rojava are seen as a threat’

Although the AANES denied the accusation of the Turkish Interior Minister, who claimed that the assailants behind Ankara’s attack on October 1 had received training in Syria, Turkiye keeps targeting North and East Syria. “Many people think that the Turkish attacks on Rojava by using the attack in Ankara as an excuse are as part of its secret plans on the Middle East. We can say that the attacks on Rojava are a holistic policy; these attacks are not carried out against only Rojava. There is an uprising in four parts of Kurdistan. One day after the attacks on Rojava, the Israel-Palestine conflict started. We know that the third world war has already started in the Middle East. Since 2011-2012, there have been uprisings, resistance and radical changes in many Middle Eastern countries. We have been going through a process that has many factors and consequences for both Turkiye and the Middle East.”

 Newroz Uysal thinks the current crisis in the Middle East cannot be evaluated separately from the crisis experienced by the capitalist system in the world. “The Middle East has been a battlefield for centuries due to concepts such as nationalism, nation-state, and sectarianism produced by capitalists. The Middle East has never been a region, where tranquility, peace and freedom prevail. The capitalist system wants the continuation of this battlefield to keep existing in the world. Mr. Öcalan’s paradigm of Democratic nation offers a solution to the nation-state and sectarianism imposed by the capitalist system on the Middle East. This paradigm is therefore seen as a threat by all systems. That's why there is a silence against the attacks on Rojava today. If this matter was only the crisis in Syria, it would be resolved much more easily. However, the common life and the system based on democracy in Rojava are seen as a threat to both Turkiye and the despotic countries in the Middle East.”

 Speaking about the economic crisis, ecological crisis and political crisis being suffered by Turkiye, Newroz Uysal said, “In such a period, Turkiye allocates its budget to warfare, instead of allocating it to improve living conditions of its people. Turkiye attacks Rojava to preserve the dynamics of its own domestic politics. The more this war and nationalism is fueled, the more people will not be interested in the domestic policies that affect every facet of life. Although there is no single statement or attack of the AANES that pose a threat to Turkiye, the media has fueled nationalism. We should also talk about the isolation imposed on Mr.Abdullah Öcalan; this system has carried out a policy against Rojava while it has imposed an isolation on Mr. Öcalan for 25 years.”

Newroz Uysal also talked about international conventions on wars and armed conflicts. “The international conventions do not give a country to enter the territory of another country, assimilate it and consider it as its own territory. However, the Turkish state considers Afrin as its own territory now. Turkiye’s one-sided attacks targeting civilian settlements are war crimes. They are crimes against humanity. Many platforms have been formed in Syria for the resolution of the Syrian crisis to ensure peace in the country. The war crimes committed by Turkiye (in NE Syria) have been documented. Turkiye has openly committed war crimes.”

‘We should expose Türkiye’s hypocrisy’

Calling on the people living in Turkiye to expose war crimes committed by the Turkish state in North and East Syria, Newroz Uysal said, “Political parties fighting for the freedom of the Kurdish people and for democracy must raise their voices against this war. Turkiye claims that it has a role to ensure peace in the Middle East while it commits war crimes in Rojava. We must find methods to expose this hypocrisy. The Turkish attacks on North and East Syria affect both foreign politics and domestic politics. The Turkish attacks on North and East Syria are unlawful and cannot be legitimated. We will keep struggling to ensure that the international community does not accept these unlawful attacks.”