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The Turkish army and its allied jihadists are attacking the Canton Afrin in Rojava (North Syria) for over two weeks from the ground and from the air. The Turkish President Erdogan claims these attacks aim to “protect its state borders from terrorism”. But the real reason for this war of aggression is to destroy the Kurdish de-facto autonomy in Rojava. And for this objective the Turkish state does not stop at ethnic cleansing and genocidal massacres.
Until now (as of February 1, 2018) 104 civilians lost their lives during the attacks of the Turkish army and its allied jihadists, 156 civilians are heavily wounded. Nearly half of the civilians victims are women and children. And nearly half of the victims were Arab IDPs, who had been forced to leave their homes because of the war and had found shelter in Afrin. Especially the villages that lie on the borders of Canton Afrin are under heavy attacks. There is the risk of a genocide. By forcing the people to leave their home the Turkish army is not only aiming an ethnical cleansing but tries to facilitate its attacks against the YPG and YPJ fighters.
The Turkish army and its allied jihadists are not reaching the intended results from the ground. On the contrary, the forces of YPG and YPJ show strong resistance. That is why the fascist attackers try to break the resistance by crimes against humanity and war crimes. A video published on 1 February on social media must be seen in this context. This video shows the necrophilia of the dead body of the YPJ fighter Barin Kobane by the jihadist allies of the Turkish army. They chop her breasts and set her body on fire. This horrible images do not only uncover the fascist and brutal face of the attackers but also the real motives of the attacks on Afrin: On the one hand there is a social and political model of democratic autonomy, built up under the leadership of women. This democratic model that is based on women’s liberation, pluralism and ecology also paves the way out of the crises in Syria.
On the other side there is the fascist Turkish regime under Erdogan and his party AKP and its allied Islamist militia. They officially call their war of aggression ‘Jihad’. They war of aggression is an attack on women’s liberation and emancipation, religious and cultural pluralism, democracy and self-administration. In this context two different future projects are colliding in Afrin: The basis of one is women’s liberation, the other one is based on pure patriarchy and misogyny. Just like it has been during the attacks of Islamic State on Kobanê and against the Yazidi community in Shengal (Sinjar). And this is what unites AKP, IS and jihadists like the Sultan Murad Division.
And precisely because of this it is so important the the women of the world raise their voice against this misogynist attack, which aims the occupation of Afrin. Together we must stop this genocidal attack of NATO-ally Turkey.
We urge the UN, EU and the international community to take immediate steps to end this aggression that threatens the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. We call on the international community to end its silence. Through its silence the international community becomes complicit and encourages Turkey’s war crimes.
We call on the women of the world, feminists, democrats, human right defenders and all anti-patriarchal, anticapitalist, anti-imperialist forces to support the struggle against defamation, fascism and feminicide. Let us rise up for peace and freedom in Afrinand freedom of Afrin and stop Erdogan’s fascist war with our protests.
Kurdish Women’s Movement of Europe (TJK-E)
tjkeewropa@hotmail.com/ info@tjk-e.com
3 February 2018
