News Center — Eastern Kurdistan and Rojava are witnessing a new wave of popular uprisings. In Iran, protesters have taken to the streets to denounce repressive policies amid calls to strengthen the struggle for freedom and democracy. In Rojava, following attacks by jihadists of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, all resistance forces responded to the call for general mobilization and rose up to resist.

Today, Thursday, January 29, the Coordination of the Kurdistan Women’s Communities (KJK) issued a statement regarding the popular uprisings in Iran and Eastern Kurdistan and the attacks considered genocidal against Rojava. The statement said that “the people of Rojava, together with the Jin Jiyan Azadî uprising, have entered a new historical phase, and that imperialist policies in the Middle East are driving these peoples toward total annihilation.”

The statement noted that the war and ongoing struggle of the peoples of Iran and Rojava, which have continued for years, have entered a new phase, as widespread protests have erupted in Iran alongside the resistance of the Kurdish people in Rojava. This is a historic moment:

“We raise our voices demanding freedom, salute the honorable resistance of the peoples rising up for an equal, free, just, and democratic life, and strongly condemn the genocidal attacks targeting the achievements of our people’s revolution in Rojava, carried out by hegemonic powers. We also salute the heroic resistance of our people and friends everywhere, especially in Rojava and Eastern Kurdistan, and respectfully commemorate the martyrs who bravely fell in the resistance against the attacks.”

The statement explained that last year, Leader Abdullah Öcalan launched a negotiation process to neutralize the dangers of this turbulent era and proposed a democratic solution through dialogue instead of genocide. Through this process, he sought to prepare military, political, diplomatic, and social forces to confront the genocide plan, build a front of struggle, and establish new tactical and strategic partnerships that would give the negotiation process and the Kurdish struggle real strength at the negotiating table and on the ground. In this way, the genocide process could be halted and addressed legally. Öcalan’s solution process was developed specifically to eliminate the danger of a new genocide that began with the jihadists of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham. His warning that “if no measures are taken, 50 catastrophes will occur” summarizes this danger. He launched the peace and democratic society initiative to confront imperialist policies that divide peoples and turn them into enemies of one another.

Hegemonic Powers Turn the World into a Chessboard According to Their Geopolitical Interests

The statement added that all the gates of hell have been opened today in the Middle East due to regional and hegemonic powers. These forces, which turn the world into a chessboard according to their geopolitical interests, are responsible for all massacres, displacement, destruction, and conspiracies in the region. Brutal policies carried out under the name of “reshaping the world and the Middle East” have caused massive devastation to the peoples of the region over recent decades. The instability in Iraq, the massacres in Gaza, the endless wars and massacres across Kurdistan, the resurgence of ISIS in Syria, and many other events are the result of these imperialist policies.

The statement pointed out that Syria is one of the regions where this reality is most clearly manifested. The war currently taking place in Rojava and Iran is merely a continuation of these imperialist tendencies. The battles of Aleppo and Sheikh Maqsoud, along with the uprisings in Iran, have opened a new phase in the region and the world. In short, the battles of Aleppo and Sheikh Maqsoud and the siege of Kobani constitute a second conspiracy akin to that of February 15.

The Coordination affirmed in its statement that Syria has become the center of hegemonic powers’ plans in the Middle East, as strategies and positions there form the basis of regional policies and power struggles. The legitimization and establishment of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham within a single year aim to create a new sphere of influence for Israel and to control the Mediterranean Sea. This situation is reflected in the implementation of a new concept of destruction against the Kurds. Thus, the jihadists of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham represent a dagger aimed at the future of peoples, women, and a free and democratic Middle East.

The statement warned that Salafi forces are being developed to change the Iranian regime and that intervention in Iran will occur in cooperation with the regional Sunni alliance. This alliance began on the basis of consent to the genocide of Rojava and the Kurds. The Paris Agreement opened a new phase in Syria and Rojava. This suspicious agreement between Israel, the United States, Syria, and Turkey evokes the Sykes–Picot and Sèvres agreements.

“It is clear from developments that the will and demands of the people are being ignored, that all legitimate opposition is being suppressed with blood, and that fascist regimes are being established. As a people, we must transcend this cursed system that has devastated us for a century. The most effective path is building collective consciousness and popular struggle. If this brutal, repressive, and dark plan is not stopped, we will not witness just one Gaza, but fifty Gazas in Syria.”

The statement stressed that Turkey’s relationship and cooperation with jihadist groups in Syria are extremely dangerous, and that the Turkish state is committing a historic mistake that will be difficult to reverse. It warned that today’s attacks in Syria are not limited to the Kurds, and that if this threat is not stopped, hostility among peoples will be fueled. The misinformation spread today by the state and covert forces against Leader Öcalan and the peace process also aims to destroy the Rojava Revolution.

“We call on everyone to defend Leader Öcalan and Rojava against these attempts at manipulation.”

The People’s Resistance Has Shattered All Walls of Fear

The statement noted that the situation in Iran and Eastern Kurdistan, along with the uprisings and interventions there, has become a central focus of many agendas and agreements, and that developments in Syria are also linked to this issue. Two main trends have emerged regarding intervention in Iran, neither of which adopts policies that address the problems and needs of the people, especially women.

It explained that tens of thousands of people have so far participated in the uprisings in Iran; some have lost their lives, others have been injured, and many have been arrested. This is the largest mass uprising against the clerical regime. Yet there has been no meaningful intervention, as these powers pursue only their own interests and act solely when it serves those interests. Sometimes they speak of military intervention, but integrating Iran through other means can be equally powerful. The people, women, and Kurds must expose the deceitful, pragmatic, and dirty policies of hegemonic powers and diversify their methods of struggle.

The Coordination of the Kurdistan Women’s Communities affirmed that the resistance of the Iranian people—especially women and Kurds—against the Iranian regime has shattered all walls of fear and continues with immense sacrifices. As always, the regime justifies its violence by claiming it is the result of “foreign powers’ games,” attempting to distance the people and women from this decisive stance. It is no longer viable for people and women to wait in the face of the regime’s repression, executions, torture, imprisonment, economic destruction, and chaos. People and women long to be free from oppression, exploitation, discrimination, and inequality. Thousands have lost their lives in Iran, and thousands more have been arrested and tortured.

“Today, we are witnessing a second Gaza tragedy before the eyes of all humanity. Our people are being killed and tortured by state terrorism, the enemy of rights and freedoms.”

In its conclusion, the statement called on the Iranian regime to cease its heavy-weapon attacks against the people and women who refuse to retreat from resistance, and to stop turning streets into slaughterhouses. A regime that kills and tortures its people so brutally is illegitimate. Iran today is turning into Gaza under state terrorism. The silence and inaction of global public opinion invite further death.

“To stop Iranian state terrorism, we call on global public opinion, progressive leftist democratic women’s organizations, and the Iranian people and women to unite in the struggle for freedom, justice, equality, and democracy.”