Rojava
| Western Kurdistan Rojava ڕۆژاوای کوردستان
Rojavayê Kurdistanê |
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| Anthem: "Ey Reqîb" |
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| Status | de facto autonomous region of Syria | |||
| Capital | Qamişlo (Qamishli)[1][2] 37°03′N 41°13′E / 37.050°N 41.217°E |
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| Official languages | Kurdish Arabic[3] Syriac-Aramaic |
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| Government | Democratic confederalism[4][5][6][7][8] | |||
| - | Co-President | Asya Abdullah | ||
| - | Co-President | Salih Muslim Muhammad | ||
| Autonomous region | ||||
| - | Autonomy Proposed | July 2013 | ||
| - | Autonomy Declared | November 2013 | ||
| - | Regional government established | November 2013 | ||
| - | Interim Constitution Adopted | January 2014 | ||
| Population | ||||
| - | 2014 estimate | 4.6 million [9] | ||
| Currency | Syrian pound (SYP) | |||
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Rojava
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| This article is part of a series on the politics and government of Rojava |
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Head of Government: Salih Muslim
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Legislature
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Elections
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Political parties
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Administrative divisions
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Rojava or Western Kurdistan (Kurdish: ڕۆژاوای کوردستان, Rojavayê Kurdistanê)[10][11] is a de facto autonomous region in northern Syria.[12] The region gained its autonomy in November 2013 as part of the ongoing Rojava Revolution, establishing a society based on principles of direct democracy, gender equality, and sustainability.[13] Rojava consists of the three cantons of (from east to west) Jazira, Kobani and Afrin. Rojava is not officially recognized as autonomous by the government of Syria[14] and is a participant in the Syrian Civil War.[15]
Kurds generally consider Rojava to be one of the four parts of a greater Kurdistan, which also includes parts of southeastern Turkey (Northern Kurdistan), northern Iraq (Southern Kurdistan), and western Iran (Eastern Kurdistan).[16] However, Rojavan government and society is polyethnic.[17]
Contents
Name[edit]
Rojava (Kurdish: Rojavayê Kurdistanê, from rojava meaning "west") is also known as Western Kurdistan or Syrian Kurdistan.
Geography[edit]
Rojava lies to the west of the River Tigris along the Turkish border. There are three cantons: Jazira Canton, Kobani Canton and separately Afrin Canton. Jazira Canton also borders Iraqi Kurdistan to the southeast. Other borders are disputed in the Syrian Civil War. All cantons are at latitude approximately 36 and a half degrees north. They are relatively flat except for the Kurd Mountains in Afrin Canton.
History[edit]
The Kurd Mountains were already Kurdish-inhabited when the Crusades broke out at the end of the 11th century.[18]
Ottoman Empire[edit]
During the Ottoman period (1299–1922), large Kurmanji-speaking Kurdish tribal groups both settled in and were deported to areas of northern Syria from Anatolia. The largest of these tribal groups was the Reshwan confederation, which was initially based in the Adiyaman region but eventually also settled throughout Anatolia. The Milli confederation, which was documented in Ottoman sources from the year 1518 onward, was the most powerful tribal group and dominated the entire northern Syrian steppe in the second half of the 18th century. Their influence continued to rise and eventually their leader Timur was appointed Ottoman governor of Raqqa (1800-1803).[19][20] Kurdish dynasty of Janbulads ruled the region of Aleppo as governors for the Ottomans from 1591 to 1607 and were allied with the Medici of Tuscany.[21]
The Danish writer Carsten Niebuhr who traveled to Jazira in 1764 recorded five nomadic Kurdish tribes (Dukurie, Kikie, Schechchanie, Mullie and Aschetie) and one Arab tribe. According to Niebuhr, those tribes were settled near Mardin in Turkey, and paid the governor of that city for the right of grazing their herds in the Syrian Jazira.[18][22] These Kurdish tribes gradually settled in villages and cities and are still present in Jazira (modern Syria's Hasakah Governorate).[23]
Until the 19th century, Kurdistan did not include lands of Syrian Jazira.[note 1][24] Similarly, Kurdistan as suggested by the Treaty of Sèvres did not include any territory in what later became Syria and Iraq.[25]
The demographics of this area saw a huge shift in the early part of the 20th century. Some Kurdish tribes cooperated with Ottoman authorities in the massacres against Armenian and Assyrian Christians in Upper Mesopotamia,[26] and were in return granted their land as a reward.[27] Kurds cooperated with Ottoman authorities in the massacres against Armenian and Assyrian Christians in Upper Mesopotamia.[26] Kurds were responsible for most of the atrocities against Assyrians, and Kurdish expansion happened at the expense of Assyrians.[28][29]
Kurdish tribes attacked and sacked Assyrian and Armenian villages in Albaq District immediately to the north of Hakkari mountains, killing large numbers of villagers.[26] Many Assyrians fled to Syria following the Assyrian genocide committed by the Ottoman Turks and Kurds in Turkey,[26][30] and settled mainly in the Jazira area.[31]
The Assyrian population of Nusaybin crossed the border into Syria and settled in Qamishli, which was separated by the railway (new border) from the former. Nusaybin became Kurdish and Qamishli became an Assyrian city.[citation needed]
French Mandate[edit]
Things soon changed, however, with the immigration of Kurds beginning in 1926 following the failure of the rebellion of Saeed Ali Naqshbandi against the Turkish authorities.[32] While many of the Kurds in Syria have been there for centuries, waves of Kurds fled their homes in Turkey and settled in Syria, where they were granted citizenship by the French mandate authorities.[33] This large influx of Kurds moved to Syria’s Jazira province. It is estimated that 25,000 Kurds fled at this time to Syria.[34]
Assyrians began to emigrate from Syria after the Amuda massacre of August 9, 1937.[35] This massacre, carried out by the Kurd Saeed Agha al-Dakuuri, emptied the city of its Assyrian population.[36][37] In 1941, the Assyrian community of al-Malikiyah was subjected to a vicious assault. Even though the assault failed, Assyrians were terrorized and left in large numbers, and the immigration of Kurds from Turkey to the area converted al-Malikiya, al-Darbasiyah and Amuda to completely Kurdish cities.[citation needed]
Pre-autonomy government from Damascus[edit]
Rojava under Syrian rule had little investment or development from the central government. Laws discriminated against Kurds from owning property, and many were without citizenship. Property was routinely confiscated by government loansharks. There were no high schools, and Kurdish language education in middle schools was forbidden, compromising Kurdish students' education. Hospitals lacked equipment for advanced treatment and instead patients had to be transferred outside Rojava.[38]
Arabization policy of Syrian governments[edit]
According to Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and Human Rights Watch, successive Syrian governments continued to adopt a policy of ethnic discrimination and national persecution against Kurds, completely depriving them of their national, democratic and human rights. Syrian governments imposed ethnically-based programs, regulations and exclusionary measures on various aspects of Kurds’ lives – political, economic, social and cultural – among which are the following:[39][40]
- 1958: The Baath party integrated Syria with Egypt in the United Arab Republic (UAR). As a result, recordings of Kurdish music were smashed in cafes and the publication and even possession of Kurdish books were offences punishable by imprisonment. Also Egyptian teachers were sent into Kurdish regions.[19][41]
- 1960: The inhabitants of Amuda (a Kurdish town) accused the authorities of causing a fire in a movie house that caused the death of 283 Kurdish children. The perpetrators were presumably motivated by anti-Kurdish sentiments.[19][41]
- Between 1946 and 1957, the Kurds in Syria had no political organization. The Kurdistan Democratic Party of Syria (KDPS) was founded in 1957. In 1960, the leaders were arrested and tortured. Finally, more than 5000 associated people were arrested.[19][41]
- Kurds in Syria were also victims of racist propaganda of the Arab media. One campaign launched by the Arab media sported slogans such as 'Save Arabism from Jazira' or 'Fight the Kurdish Menace'.
- Kurdish language remained forbidden and the public school became for the Kurds a place of Arabization. According to "Syria's Kurds: History, Politics and Society" by Dr. Jordi Tejel,"with the increase in literate children in the Kurdish regions, a tight surveillance system was established there, following the example of the Turks, by means of 'spies,' to stop the children from speaking Kurdish among themselves. Children discovered in flagrant 'defiance' could be physically punished.[19][41]
- In 1962 the Syrian authorities in Hasaka randomly stripped tens of thousands of Kurdish families (more than 120,000 Kurds[42]) of their Syrian nationality. A census was implemented exclusively in Hasaka province for a period of just 24 hours only, and as a result tens of thousands of Syrian citizens of Kurdish origins lost their nationality and found themselves deprived of their citizenship. The census prevented all those affected by it from exercising all the natural rights that are based on citizenship – civil, social, political, cultural and economic – from exercising their right to work, to employment, to education, travel, the right to own a property and use agricultural land and from living normal lives.[39][40]
- In 1973 in the province of Hasaka, the Syrian authorities confiscated an area of fertile agricultural land owned and cultivated by tens of thousands of Kurdish citizens and gave it to Arab families brought in from the provinces of Aleppo and Ar-Raqqa. The National Leadership Bureau of the ruling Baath Party issued orders to establish 41 settlement centers in these areas, in order to change the demographic composition of these areas by evicting and displacing the Kurdish inhabitants. In 2007, Syrian authorities in the Agricultural Association in Malikiyah, Hasaka province, signed contracts granting 150 Arab families from the Shaddadi region, Hasaka province, about six thousand square kilometers in Malikiyah. At the same time, it evicted tens of thousands of Kurdish people from these villages, and forced them to move to other areas inside and outside of Syria in search of a decent living.[39][40]
- In 1967, all references to Kurds in Syria were removed from geography curriculum books, and many Kurdish citizens were subject to pressure from the staff of the Civil Registry Departments to not give their children Kurdish names.[39][40]
- In 1986, the governor of Hasaka issued a decree which prohibited the use of the Kurdish language in the workplace. In 1989, the governor of Hasaka, Mohammed Mustafa Miro, issued another decree to re-confirm this ban on speaking Kurdish and added to it a prohibition on non-Arabic songs at weddings and holidays.[39][40]
- In the 1960s, Syrian authorities planned to change the original Kurdish names of scores of villages in Hasakeh governorate in the northeast and in the Kurdish area in the Kurd Mountains, in the northwest near Afrin in the governorate of Aleppo, and began to implement it in the 1970s. In Afrin the names of all Kurdish villages were changed to Arabic. Some of the names which were changed to Arabic are: Kobaniya (now Ain al-Arab), Girdeem (Sa`diyya), Chilara (Jowadiyya), Derunakoling (Deir Ayoub), and BaniQasri (Ain Khadra).[40]
Rojava Revolution[edit]
(For a more detailed map, see Cities and towns during the Syrian Civil War)
During the Syrian Civil War, Syrian government forces withdrew from three Kurdish enclaves, leaving control to local militias in 2012. Because of the war, People's Protection Units (YPG) were created by the Kurdish Supreme Committee to defend the Kurdish-inhabited areas in Syria. In July 2012 the YPG established control in the towns of Kobanî, Amuda and Afrin.[43] The two main Kurdish groups, the Kurdish National Council (KNC) and the Democratic Union Party (PYD), afterwards formed a joint leadership council to administer the towns.[43][dead link] Later that month the cities of Al-Malikiyah (Dêrika Hemko), Ra's al-'Ayn (Serê Kaniyê), Al-Darbasiyah(Dirbêsî), and Al-Maabadah (Girkê Legê) also came under the control of the People's Protection Units.
The only major Kurdish-majority cities that remained under government control were Al-Hasaka and Qamishli,[44][45] although parts of both soon also came under the control of the YPG.
In July 2013, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) began to forcibly displace Kurdish civilians from towns in Ar-Raqqah governorate. After demanding that all Kurds leave Tell Abyad on or else be killed, thousands of civilians, including Turkmen and Arab families, fled on 21 July. Its fighters looted and destroyed the property of Kurds, and in some cases, resettled displaced Arab Sunni families from the Qalamoun area (Rif Damascus), Dayr Az-Zawr and Ar-Raqqah, in abandoned Kurdish homes. A similar pattern was documented in Tel Arab and Tal Hassel in July 2013. As ISIL consolidated its authority in Ar-Raqqah, Kurdish civilians were forcibly displaced from Tel Akhader, and Kobanî in March and September 2014, respectively.[46]
In 2014, Kobanî was besieged by ISIL and later liberated by YPG forces and the Free Syrian Army cooperating as Euphrates Volcano, with air support from United States-led airstrikes.
In January 2015, the YPG fought against Syrian regime forces in Hassakeh,[47] and clashed with those stationed in Qamishli in June 2015.[48] After the latter clashes, Nasir Haj Mansour, a Kurdish official in the northeast stated “The regime will with time get weaker ... I do not imagine the regime will be able to strengthen its position”.[49]
The Non-Government structures of the people[edit]
The Kurdish Supreme Committee (Desteya Bilind a Kurd, DBK) was established by the Democratic Union Party (PYD) and the Kurdish National Council (KNC) as the governing body of Rojava in July 2012.[50] The member board consists of an equal number of PYD and KNC members.[51] In November 2013, the PYD announced an interim government divided into three non-contiguous autonomous areas or cantons, Afrin, Jazira and Kobani.[52]
The political system of Rojava is inspired by democratic confederalism and communalism. It is influenced by anarchist and libertarian principles, and is considered by many a type of libertarian socialism.[53] The Constitution of Rojava has protection for currency, property rights and free trade.[54] The basic unit at the local level is the community which pools resources for education, protection and governance. At a national level communities are unrestricted in deciding their own economic decisions on who they wish to sell to and how resources are allocated. There is a broad push for social reform, gender equality and ecological stabilization in the region.[55]
Political writer David Romano describes it as pursuing "a bottom-up, Athenian-style direct form of democratic governance". He contrasts the local communities taking on responsibility vs the strong central governments favoured by many states. In this model, states become less relevant and people govern through councils.[56] Rojava divides itself into regional administrations called cantons named after the Swiss cantons.[54]
Moving towards democratic autonomy[edit]
The governance model of Rojava has an emphasis on local management, with regions divided into cantons with democratically elected committees to make decisions. The Movement for a Democratic Society (also known as TEV-DEM) is the political coalition governing Rojava.
Its programme immediately aimed to be "very inclusive" and people from a range of different backgrounds became involved (including Kurds, Arabs, Assyrians, and Turkmen (from Muslim, Christian, and Yazidi religious groups). It sought to "establish a variety of groups, committees and communes on the streets in neighborhoods, villages, counties and small and big towns everywhere". The purpose of these groups was to meet "every week to talk about the problems people face where they live". The representatives of the different community groups meet 'in the main group in the villages or towns called the "House of the People"'.
According to Zaher Baher of the Haringey Solidarity Group, the TEV-DEM has been "the most successful organ" in Rojava because it has the "determination and power" to change things, it includes many people who "believe in working voluntarily at all levels of service to make the event/experiment successful", and it has "set up an army of defence consisting of three different parts" - the YPG, the YPJ, the Asayish (a "mixed force of men and women that exists in the towns and all the checkpoints outside the towns to protect civilians from any external threat"), and "a special unit for women only, to deal with issues of rape and domestic violence".[57]
Centralised political representation[edit]
Alongside TEV-DEM there is the Kurdish Supreme Committee, the interim governing body of Rojava which consists of an equal number of Democratic Union Party (PYD) and Kurdish National Council (KNC) members, and a smaller number of Syriac Union Party (Syria) members.[51] This council is mainly concerned with external affairs.
There are no plans for independence from Syria, but for self-administration and control of local resources.[58]
Elections for a new government were planned to be held before the end of 2014,[59] but this was postponed due to fighting. Local elections were eventually held in March 2015.
There are 20 ministries dealing with the economy, agriculture, natural resources, and foreign affairs.[59] Among other stipulations outlined is a quota of 40% for women’s participation in government, as well as another quota for youth. In connection with a decision to introduce affirmative action for ethnic minorities, all governmental organizations and offices are based on a co-presidential system.[60]
Human rights[edit]
Rojava constitution[edit]
According to the Constitution of Rojava,[61][62][63][64] the administration of the de facto autonomous region is committed to international law regarding human rights. This includes the following amendments to Syrian law.
- Equal rights for women and a ban on polygamy[65]
- Religious freedom and equality of all ethnic groups
- Ban on capital punishment and torture
Syrian opposition militias[edit]
According to a Human Rights report, since July 2013, Jabhat Al-Nusra, at times in coordination with other armed groups, carried out a series of killings of Kurdish civilians in Al Youssoufiyah, Qamishli and Al-Asadia (Al-Hasakah). During a raid by the Free Syrian Army, ISIS, the Islamic Front and Jabhat Al-Nusra battalions, fighters killed a Kurdish Yazidi man in Al-Asadia who refused to convert to Islam.[66]
ISIS[edit]
In June 2014, after ISIS defeated the Kurdish forces in the border city of Tell Abyad, ISIS fighters made an announcement from the minarets of the local mosques that all Kurds had to leave Tell Abyad on or else be killed. Thousands of civilians, including Turkmen and Arab families fled on 21 July.[46][67] Its fighters systematically looted and destroyed the property of Kurds, and in some cases, resettled displaced Arab Sunni families from the Qalamoun area (Rif Damascus), Dayr Az-Zawr and Ar-Raqqah in abandoned Kurdish homes.[46]
In June 2015 at least 220 Kurdish civilians were massacred in mass killings by ISIS Fighters[68][69] in their homes or killed by the group's rockets or snipers by an attack on the Syrian Kurdish town of Kobani on the Turkish border, which is one of the worst massacres carried out by ISIS in Syria. Women and children were among the bodies found inside houses and on the streets of Kobane. Also in a nearby village, IS reportedly shot dead at least 20 civilians, including women and children. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that ISIS fired at everything that moved.[70][71][72][73][74][75][76]
YPG militia[edit]
Some sources have accused PYD for human rights abuses which have been taken place in areas under their control.[77] The allegations include forcible recruitment, kidnappings, assassinations,[78] executions,[79] torture,[78] ethnic cleansing,[80] and expulsion.[78]
Legally women have equal rights and there are quotas for their political representation.[81] There is affirmative action to give power to minority groups and ethnicities as a guiding principle.
Human Rights Watch who was permitted to visit in early 2014, reported "arbitrary arrests, due process violations, and failed to address unsolved killings and disappearances" and made recommendations for government improvement.[78] However, Fred Abrahams, special advisor to HRW who visited Rojava and drafted the report, noted that the PYD has taken solid steps to addressing the problems and has been receptive to criticism. He notes that they are currently in the process of political transitioning from the Syrian government, training a new police force and creating a new legal system.[82]
There has also been multiple reports of teenage fighters serving in the YPG military. After criticism from Human Rights Watch when the problem persisted, the YPG pledged publically to demobilize all fighters under 18 within a month.[78] It is worth noting that the YPG is a "decentralised army", and individual units act autonomously.[83] However the YPG has taken steps to prevent teenage volunteer fighters under the age of 18. Torture is allegedly a common practice of PYD militias against opponents and those who refuse forcible recruitment.[77][84]
Alleged violations of ethnic minorities[edit]
The YPG have been accused of ethnic cleansing against Arabs; which led to the fleeing of thousands and the destruction of several Arab villages[80] — a charge strongly denied by the Kurds.[85] The accusation was not backed by any evidence of ethnic or sectarian killings.[85] The head of Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the people who had fled into Turkey were escaping fighting and there was no systematic effort to force people out.[86]
A report by Kurdish human rights organization KurdWatch have said that YPG demanded residents of Arab villages around the Jabal ʿAbdulʿaziz (Çiyayê Kezwan) leave their villages in fears of the ISIL could count on support from the Arab population,[87] and burning houses of Arab villagers in Qamishli area in revenge for the YPG‑fighters killed at this location.[88]
In an interview by Society for Threatened Peoples with the head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdulrahman said that all "ethnic cleansing" allegations against YPG were nonsense. He also explained that these allegations were propaganda of Turkish and Syrian National Congress origin, because of their hostility towards Kurds.[89]
On 13 October 2015, Amnesty international accused YPG of demolishing homes of village residents and forcing them out of areas under kurdish control.[90] Amnesty International said that YPG has targeted the villages that were controlled by ISIL or where a small minority were suspected of supporting the group.[90][91] YPG spokesman Redur Xelil said: "Very simply, this is a false allegation."[92] and PYD leader Salih Muslim and YPG spokesman strictly denied the Amnesty International claims.[91]
Forcible fighter recruitment[edit]
Several incidents of forcible recruitment, including 16-year-old boys, have happened in by PYD forces.[93] The latest of these events happened in Afrin District during which approximately two hundred young men were forcibly recruited.[94] In a previous incident on 12 June 2015, Christian men in Qamishli resisted a forcible kidnapping attempt for recruitment in PYD militia. The situation escalated further with the arrival of vehicles of the regime-affiliated Christian Sootoro militia and one YPG fighter was reportedly seriously injured.[95] In another incident, a 14-year-old girl was forcibly recruited.[96] Local Kurdish residents in Amuda had rallied against forcible recruitment of minors.[97]
Oppression against other political parties[edit]
The 2014 report by Human Rights Watch documented the alleged cases of "arbitrary arrests" and "unfair trials" that had occurred since the beginning of the revolution in 2012.[98] PYD and YPG officials claim that the few proven instances of misconduct are isolated incidents and not tolerated.[78] According to Kurdwatch several incidents allegedly involved assassination, violence, torture, or expulsion of political opponents of PYD militias. In one incident, the Asayiş, the security service of the Democratic Union Party (PYD), expelled two Yekîtî (rival Kurdish party) members from their homes in Rumaylan.[99]
Economy[edit]
In 2012, the PYD launched what it originally called the Social Economy Plan, later renamed the People’s Economy Plan (PEP). The PEP's policies are based primarily on the work of Abdullah Öcalan and ultimately seek to move beyond capitalism in favor of democratic confederalism.[100]
Private property and entrepreneurship are protected under the principle of "ownership by use", although accountable to the democratic will of locally organized councils. Dr Dara Kurdaxi, a Rojavan economist, has said that: "The method in Rojava is not so much against private property, but rather has the goal of putting private property in the service of all the peoples who live in Rojava."[101] [note 2]
The private sector is comparatively small, with the focus being on expanding social ownership of production and management of resources through communes and collectives. Several hundred instances of collectivization have occurred across towns and villages in all three cantons, with each commune consisting of approximately 20-35 people.[102] According to the Ministry of Economics, approximately three quarters of all property has been placed under community ownership and a third of production has been transferred to direct management by workers councils.[103]
There are also no taxes on the people or businesses in Rojava. Instead money is raised through border crossings, and selling oil or other natural resources.[104][105] Trade as well as access to both humanitarian and military aid is difficult as Rojava remains under a strict embargo enforced by Turkey.[106]
Price controls are managed by democratic committees per canton, which can set the price of basic goods such as for food and medical goods. This mechanism can also be used for managing public production to, for instance, produce more wheat to keep prices low for important goods.[105]
The government is seeking outside investment to build a power plant and a fertilizer factory.[107]
Resources[edit]
Oil and food production exceeds demand[59] so exports include oil and agricultural products such as sheep, grain and cotton. Imports include consumer goods and auto parts.[108] The border crossing of Yaroubiyah is intermittently closed by the Kurdistan Regional Government side. Turkey does not allow Syrian Kurd businesspeople or their goods to cross its border [109] although Rojava would like the border to be opened.[110]
Before the war, Al-Hasakah governorate was producing about 40,000 barrels of crude oil a day. However, during the war the oil refinery has been only working at 5% capacity due to lack of refining chemicals. Some people work at primitive oil refining, which causes more pollution.[111]
In 2014, the Syrian government was still paying some state employees,[112] but fewer than before.[113] The Rojavan government says that "none of our projects are financed by the regime".[110]
Military and police[edit]
The DBK's armed wing is the People's Protection Units (Yekîneyên Parastina Gel, YPG). Military service was declared compulsory in July 2014 [114] due to the ongoing war against Daesh.
The People's Protection Units was founded by the PYD party after the 2004 Qamishli clashes, but it was not active until the Syrian Civil War.[115] As of the signing of the Arbil Agreement by the PYD and Kurdish National Council (KNC), the YPG came under the nominal command of the Kurdish Supreme Committee, although in reality it is almost exclusively still the armed wing of the PYD.[116] The Sutoro is a Christian militia defending Assyrian areas. The police function in Rojava-controlled areas is performed by the Asayish armed formation.
The YPG is a trained force utilising snipers and mobile weaponry to launch hit-and-run attacks and maneuvre quickly.
Relying on speed, stealth, and surprise, it is the archetypal guerrilla army, able to deploy quickly to front lines and concentrate its forces before quickly redirecting the axis of its attack to outflank and ambush its enemy. The key to its success is autonomy. Although operating under an overarching tactical rubric, YPG brigades are inculcated with a high degree of freedom and can adapt to the changing battlefield.[83]
The YPG is finding resupply difficult.[117]
The existing police force is trained in non-violent conflict resolution as well as feminist theory before being allowed access to a weapon. Directors of the Asayiş police academy have said that the long-term goal is to give all citizens six weeks of police training before ultimately eliminating the police.[118]
Demographics[edit]
Ethnicity[edit]
Most of the people in Rojava are ethnic Kurds.[59] Especially in Jazira Canton there are settlements of Arabs. Most of the people in Khanik and Al-Malikiyah in Jazira Canton are Assyrian. There are also Turkmens, Yazidis, Armenians.
Religion[edit]
Most people in Rojava are Muslim but some are Christian. There are also other minorities such as Zoroastrians and Yazidism, but a lot of Kurdish people in Rojava defend laicism. Interfaith relations are good.[119]
Languages spoken[edit]
Kurdish, Arabic, Turkish (Syrian Turkmen dialect) and Syriac-Aramaic are spoken.
Population centres[edit]
Qamishli is the largest city in Jazira canton. Kobane and Efrin are the principal cities of the other cantons.
Foreign relations[edit]
Turkey claims the YPG is the same as the PKK, which is considered a terrorist organisation by the EU, NATO, US, and Turkey itself. However, YPG leaders insist that the PKK is a separate organization.[120] In 2014 Turkey was accused of supporting ISIS attacks on the YPG, allowing them to conduct attacks from the Turkish border and providing logistical support.[121]
There is military cooperation with Iraqi Kurdistan and the USA.
In January 2015, a UK parliament committee asked the government to explain and justify its policy of not working with the Rojava military to combat ISIS.[122]
France is supportive of Rojava.[123]
See also[edit]
Notes[edit]
- ^ Modern Curdistan is of much greater extent than the ancient Assyria, and is composed of two parts the Upper and Lower: In the former is the province of Ardelan, the ancient Arropachatis, now nominally a part of Irak Ajami, and belonging to the north west division called Al Jobal. It contains five others, namely, Betlis, the ancient Carduchia, lying to the south and south west of the lake Van. East and south east of Betlis is the principality of Julamerick, south west of it is the principality of Amadia. The fourth is Jeezera ul Omar, a city on an island in the Tigris, which corresponds to the ancient city of Bezabde. The fifth and largest is Kara Djiolan, with a capital of the same name. The pashalics of Kirkook and Solimania also comprise part of Upper Kurdistan. Lower Kurdistan comprises all the level tract to the east of the Tigris, and the minor ranges immediately bounding the plains and reaching thence to the foot of the great range, which may justly be denominated the Alps of western Asia.
A Dictionary of Scripture Geography 1846, John Miles.[24] - ^ This and other aspects of the Rojava revolution have led some anti-capitalists to criticise the revolution for not going far enough e.g. 'Anarchist Federation statement on the Rojava revolution'; Gilles Dauve, 'Rojava: reality and rhetoric'; Alex de Jong, 'Stalinist caterpillar into libertarian butterfly? - the evolving ideology of the PKK'; Anti War, '‘I have seen the future and it works.’ – Critical questions for supporters of the Rojava revolution' and Devrim Valerian, 'The bloodbath in Syria: class war or ethnic war?'. Other anti-capitalists have been significantly less critical e.g. David Graeber, 'No. This is a Genuine Revolution'; Janet Biehl, 'Poor in means but rich in spirit' and the Kurdistan Anarchist Forum
References[edit]
- ^ http://basnews.com/en/News/Details/Syrian-Defense-Minister-in-Qamishli--We-won-t-let-anyone-take-Hasakah/21882
- ^ "ISIS suicide attacks target Syrian Kurdish capital - Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East". Al-Monitor. Retrieved 18 February 2015.
- ^ "West Kurdistan divided into three cantons". ANF. 6 January 2014. Retrieved 6 January 2014.
- ^ Jongerden, Joost. "Rethinking Politics and Democracy in the Middle East" (PDF). Retrieved 8 September 2013.
- ^ Ocalan, Abdullah (2011). Democratic Confederalism (PDF). ISBN 978-0-9567514-2-3. Retrieved 8 September 2013.
- ^ Ocalan, Abdullah (2 April 2005). "The declaration of Democratic Confederalism". KurdishMedia.com. Retrieved 8 September 2013.
- ^ "Bookchin devrimci mücadelemizde yaşayacaktır". Savaş Karşıtları (in Turkish). 26 August 2006. Retrieved 8 September 2013.
- ^ Wood, Graeme (26 October 2007). "Among the Kurds". The Atlantic. Retrieved 8 September 2013.
- ^ Estimate as of mid November 2014, including numerous refugees. "Rojava’s population has nearly doubled to about 4.6 million. The newcomers are Sunni and Shia Syrian Arabs who have fled from violence taking place in southern parts of Syria. There are also Syrian Christians members of the Assyrian Church of the East, Chaldean Catholic Church, Syriac Catholic Church, Syriac Orthodox Church, and others, driven out by Islamist forces. "In Iraq and Syria, it's too little, too late". Ottawa Citizen. 14 November 2014.
- ^ "Barzanî xêra rojavayê Kurdistanê dixwaze". Avesta Kurd (in Kurdish). 15 July 2012. Retrieved 13 May 2015.
- ^ "Yekîneya Antî Teror a Rojavayê Kurdistanê hate avakirin". Ajansa Nûçeyan a Hawar (in Kurdish). 7 April 2015. Retrieved 13 May 2015.
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The Kurds’ alliance with Washington has fueled suspicions in Damascus of a conspiracy to break up Syria, while the Kurds are irritated by what they see as government attempts to recover lost influence in the region
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According to Dr. Ahmad Yousef, an economic co-minister, three-quarters of traditional private property is being used as commons and one quarter is still being owned by use of individuals...According to the Ministry of Economics, worker councils have only been set up for about one third of the enterprises in Rojava so far.
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External links[edit]
| Wikimedia Commons has media related to Kurdish inhabited regions in Syria. |
- The Constitution of the Rojava Cantons
- BBC documentary: Rojava: Syria's Secret Revolution
- Resources on the Rojava revolution in West Kurdistan (Syria)
- 'Rojava Revolution' Reading Guide
- Prof. Harvey: Rojava must be defended. ANF News, April 14, 2015.
- Discussion about Rojava on Reddit
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