| CNN | - |
DERIK, Kurdish-controlled northern Syria
(CNN) -- It wasn't until jihadist militants mounted a relentless siege
of Kobani, a border town within sight of international television
cameras, that much of the world realized ethnic Kurds were an effective ...
Iraqi peshmerga poised to join battle against Islamic State in SyriaR
Meet America's newest allies: Syria's Kurdish minority
updated 9:03 AM EDT, Wed October 29, 2014
Your video will play in 15 secs
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- Syrian Kurds have become a point of tension between NATO allies Turkey and the U.S.
- The United States has aided Kurdish defenders holding off ISIS in Kobani
- But for 30 years, militants from the Kurdish separatist movement fought a guerilla war
- Their opponent in that fight has been the government in nearby Turkey.
But as much of the rest
of Syria ripped itself apart in a vicious civil war, Syria's Kurdish
minority spent three years quietly building a series of mini-states in
the north of the country.
They refer to these three enclaves as Rojava. Until recently, some outside observers saw them as something of a success.
"They tried to run them
as pretty autonomous statelets that were actually rather admirable in
some ways. They included many different ethnic groups, faith groups, and
they tried to be inclusive," said Hugh Pope, a senior analyst with the
International Crisis Group, a conflict mediation organization.
Female Peshmerga on the front lines
Kurdish reporter on women fighting ISIS
Kurdish fighters make gains against ISIS
Bulletins pasted on walls
on the streets of one Kurdish-controlled town urge business owners to
post signs in the three official languages of Rojava: Kurdish, Arabic,
and Syriac -- an ancient Christian language spoken in the Middle East
for nearly 2,000 years.
"The municipality will
help in preparation and translation," the bulletins printed by the
municipality of Derik. "Our language is our identity, our history, our
existence and our dignity."
In some ways, the Kurdish-controlled zone feels a world away from many other battle-scarred towns in northern Syria.
These areas have barely
been targeted by the Syrian government airstrikes and barrel bombs that
pummel rebel-held cities and towns, killing at least 182 civilians last
week alone, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Unlike the atmosphere in
territory controlled by Islamist militias, women in Rojava walk freely
on the streets, their hair and faces uncovered.
And everywhere, there
are posters and graffiti celebrating the bravery and martyrdom of
Kurdish fighters from the People's Protection Units, or YPG.
"Our martyrs do not die.
They live on in memory!" a Kurdish commander announced at a memorial
ceremony for slain fighters. The commander, a woman dressed in green
camouflage wearing a pistol on her belt, stood in front of scores of
uniformed female Kurdish militants who performed military parade drills
with Kalashnikov assault rifles.
A pillar of the Kurdish movement's ideology rests on gender equality.
The fiercely secular YPG
stands in sharp contrast to its bitter enemy the Islamic State of Iraq
and Syria (ISIS). In territories it controls, ISIS militants
dramatically reduced freedoms of women and issued public statements
justifying the kidnapping and enslavement of thousands of women from the
Yazidi religious minority in Iraq.
"We as women defend and
protect our people," said Hadiye Yusuf, the female co-president of the
largest of the 3 Kurdish enclaves, in an address at the memorial
ceremony.
"We carry weapons to protect our homes and avoid becoming slaves of ISIS," she added.
At the conclusion of the
ceremony, female fighters as well as the mothers and widows of YPG
members killed fighting ISIS, chanted "Biji sera Apo," or "Long Live
Apo."
Apo is the nickname of
Abdullah Ocalan, the imprisoned leader of the Kurdistan Workers Party,
or PKK. For 30 years, militants from this Marxist-inspired Kurdish
separatist movement fought a guerilla war against the government in
nearby Turkey. To this day, Turkey, as well as its NATO allies the
United States and the European Union, officially label the PKK a
terrorist organization.
YPG leaders insist the PKK is a fraternal, though distinctly separate organization.
The YPG's iconography and membership suggest otherwise.
PKK leader Ocalan's
portrait sits at the center of many posters of slain YPG fighters. In
addition, during two trips CNN journalists made to Rojava, CNN
encountered at least a dozen armed Kurdish militants of Turkish origin.
In an interview with
CNN, co-president Hadiye Yusuf said in her youth she had been a PKK
fighter, before eventually becoming an activist in a women's
association.
The Syrian Kurds' close links to the PKK put Rojava at odds with the Kurdish zone's neighbor to the north: Turkey.
That left the enclave of Kobani vulnerable when ISIS mounted its assault last month.
"When push came to shove
in Kobani, the YPG fighters were terribly exposed and have been dealt
very cruel blows," said the ICG's Hugh Pope.
More than 200,000
refugees fled across the border to Turkey to escape the ISIS advance.
Meanwhile, Kobani's Kurdish defenders were pushed back almost to the
border fence with Turkey in their grim struggle against the jihadi
offensive.
ISIS in line of sight of Turkey
ISIS allegedly using poison gas
ISIS to reporter: 'you would be tortured'
American fights with Kurds against ISIS
American airstrikes, and
a series of weapons and ammunition air drops, succeeded in loosening
the ISIS siege. But the US move to help the Syrian Kurds strained
relations with Turkey, whose president called the American aid drops "a
mistake."
While the Syrian Kurds
have become a point of tension between two NATO allies, they are also
enjoying soaring popularity among Kurds scattered across different
countries in the Middle East.
Last August, YPG
fighters mounted a daring rescue operation across the border into
neighboring Iraq. They evacuated thousands of of Iraqi Kurds from the
Yazidi religious group, who were trapped by ISIS on a barren mountain.
Over the last month, the
YPG's defense of Kobani have electrified and united Kurds often
fractured by linguistic and political divisions.
But the popularity has come at great cost.
Hundreds of YPG members have been killed, and many more wounded, in the war against ISIS.
At the memorial ceremony
for fallen fighters last weekend, a widow named Khalisa Gharzi sat with
her daughter and son watching the speeches.
She was in the final
month of her pregnancy with her daughter Zhanda last year, when her
husband Ramadan was killed in a battle with ISIS.
Gharzi said her husband's body had been mutilated when it was recovered, with one of his ears severed.
"I am angry and sad
about what happened to him, but I'm still proud because he was a
fighter," Gharzi said. "If I didn't have these children, I myself would
go and fight. Because this is a just war."
Not far away, her
3-and-a-half-year old son Hogur played next to rows of female fighters
who sat on the parade ground clutching their rifles.
The boy was dressed in the green camouflage uniform of a future Kurdish fighter.
end quote from:
No comments:
Post a Comment