The Afrin canton in Northern Syria is under sustained assault from invading Turkish forces and allied Islamist gangs.聽
The Turkish invasion, accompanied by reports of massacres and use of chemical weapons, aims to destroy the progressive, democratic Kurdish-led revolution in Syria鈥檚 north, which places women鈥檚 liberation at its centre.
Northern Syria (also known by its Kurdish name of 鈥淩ojava鈥) has been the scene of a social revolution with women鈥檚 liberation at its centre in recent years. However, it has come under constant attack.
When a democratic uprising broke out against the Syrian dictatorship of Bashar al-Assad in 2011, the regime responded with brutal repression. Aided by defections from the Syrian Army, this helped turn the mass protest movement into the armed conflict that wracks Syria today.
The People鈥檚 Democratic Party (HDP), a broad-based left-wing group largely initiated by Kurdish forces in Turkey, has faced the full brunt of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan鈥檚 authoritarian crackdown.
More than 10,000 HDP members have been arrested, along with its leaders and dozens of elected officials 鈥 often on trumped-up charges of 鈥渟upporting terrorism鈥 in retaliation for the HDP鈥檚 support for the struggle of the Kurdish community for democratic rights.
The defeat of ISIS in Syria last year raised hopes that the long-running war that has displaced more than two-thirds of the population might be coming to an end. However, the attempted Turkish invasion of the Afrin region of Rojava (Syrian Kurdistan), which began on January 20, has underlined that the war is in fact intensifying.
Women from the Tirbesipiye-Cizire Canton in northern Syria (known as 鈥淩ojava鈥 in Kurdish)聽held a women-only demonstration through the city centre on February 9.
The marchers expressed their support for the resistance by women and others in the Afrin canton in Rojava against the fascist invasion from Turkey and Islamic gangs, which began last month 鈥 and in support of the feminist, multi-ethnic Rojava Revolution.
Thousands of solidarity activists from all across the Democratic Federation of Northern Syria聽defied a threat of bombardment by the Turkish State on February 6 to stand in solidarity with the resistance in Afrin.
The statement below, 鈥淢essage from the Women of Afrin to the Women of the World鈥, was released on February 3 by Kongreya Star Efrin, a confederation of women鈥檚 organisatons in Afrin (Efrin in Kurdish).
On January 20, Turkey launched an invasion of Afrin, one of the three cantons that make up the Democratic Federation of Northern Syria (also known as Rojava), the site of a profound, Kurdish-led social revolution based on multi-ethnic participatory democracy and women鈥檚 liberation.
The invasion has killed dozens of civilians in an area that has welcomed hundreds of thousands of refugees from Syria鈥檚 conflict. Turkey鈥檚 actions would be impossible without at least passive acceptance from several great powers active in Syria. Cihad Hammy looks at the motivations for various major players.
The dark clouds of 21st-century fascism are once again hanging over the heads of the people of northern Syria. As if the inhabitants of the region often referred to as Rojava haven鈥檛 suffered enough over the course of the past 7 years of war, the Turkish state has come to the conclusion that the time is ripe to pick up the fallen, bloodied sword from the corpse that is Islamic State.
Together with Salafist mercenaries carrying flags of the Syrian 鈥榬ebels鈥 鈥 one of the many components of what at one historical juncture seemingly all so long ago was a cohesive 鈥楩ree Syrian Army鈥 鈥 Erdogan鈥檚 regime vows a 鈥榮wift operation鈥 to destroy 鈥榯errorism鈥 in Afrin.
The left-wing Peoples鈥 Democratic Party (HDP) has condemned Turkey鈥檚 invasion of the Afrin region in northern Syria (known as Rojava in Kurdish) in collaboration with mostly jihadi Syrian militias.
The HDP, with strong roots in Turkey鈥檚 Kurdish minority, has itself faced worsening repression from the regime of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
As concerned Australians, we condemn Turkey鈥檚 invasion of the mainly Kurdish canton of Afrin in northern Syria, and demand that the Australian Government do all in its power to protest and stop Turkey鈥檚 brazen criminal aggression.