This analysis was originally published by the Jineoloji Academy.
The hostility of Turkey and its gangs against women reveals the two-line war in Syria which Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan predicted for the 21st century: “Either Socialism or Barbarism”. We can interpret this as “Jin, Jiyan, Azadî” (Woman, Life, Freedom) or “Men, State, Violence”.
Hegemonic forces have used the ongoing third world war, whose centre is the Middle East, to put a new plan into action in Syria as of 27 November. According to information from local sources, since the summer, the gangs that have been holding training camps in Idlib and Rehyanli have put forth a new version of their training course: “train and equip” and then have been releasing their trainees into the field in Syria.
The events that are taking place in the last days of 2024 at a mind-boggling speed indicate how the year 2025 will pass. Of course, within this plan, every hegemonic power has a new plan of its own. Are the democratic forces in Syria and the Middle East capable of protecting their people, women, cultures, nature and the future against these plans however the situation plays out? We will answer this question in due time, but now let’s look at the aspirations of the hegemonic powers who try to conquer not only our land, but also our hearts and minds.
Whose war is this?
Who is the brain behind this army of men, who we women know well. Who sets them in motion, and what do they want? The patriarchal hegemonic states that everyone knows and speaks of by name today, a hundred years after the first world war, are once again trying to divide the Middle East. This war began in 2011 with the start of the Syrian Civil War. The level of conflict and the methods of war have changed as a result of proxy wars and the paramilitary forces sent to fight in them.
Each time they failed, they changed their name and clothes
From the day the war started until now, the crimes of ISIS, who were crafted by imperialist countries and brought to the region, were committed before the eyes of the whole world. Al Qaeda evolved into Al Nusra and subsequently Hayet Tahrir Al Sham (HTS) and ISIS. After their defeat by the YPJ/YPG, the remnants of ISIS and HTS surrendered to their partner Turkey, and united with gangs of the same mentality. Each time they failed, they changed their names and clothes. The Free Syrian Army (FSA), which is affiliated with Turkey, was ‘trained and equipped’ by the hegemonic forces, and then sent to the region, under its other name, the Syrian National Army (SNA). It contains about thirty different gangs.
It is on women’s bodies that this war is waged
Wherever these gangs invaded, they waged war on women’s bodies and attempted to conquer the area. In this country where the war is still ongoing, it is impossible to report crimes against women with data or statistics. The United Nations stated in a report published in 2018 that thousands of women and children have been raped during the war. The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights revealed in a report that since March 2018, 106,000 civilians, and 353,900 people total have lost their lives. The 56,900 people who are missing and presumed dead are not included in this number.
According to this agency, the deaths of about 100,000 people have not been documented. It is estimated that 40 percent of the dead are women and children. Half of Syrian refugees are also women. It is known that refugee women in the countries of Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan are forced into prostitution and sold into marriage for money.
They became messengers of death, women became guardians of life
In every city, district, town and village where these gangs invaded, they left behind beheaded people; women who were seen as loot, and who faced rape. They devastated nature. They looted houses and not one person told them to stop. Only the Kurdish forces fought and stopped them. From this grew the resistance of all population groups and women against these gangs. This was the attitude of all the men and women against those gangs. With the power of the intellect and action of the democratic, ecological and women’s liberation paradigm of the people’s leader Abdullah Öcalan, with the 40-year resistance culture of the PKK, with the 30-year line of the women’s freedom movement behind them, the Kurds were ready to face these forces head on. At the same time, with their achievements in every front where they fought, they spread the word that the Middle East has no need for dark forces.
While these gangs and their sponsors brought death and massacres to every place they reached, the women’s liberation movement brought life and freedom to every place it reached. The philosophy of life was crowned with the Rojava Revolution and by the Women’s Revolution of Rojava was defined. Step by step it grew, from equal representation, to co-leadership, from self-defense to the participation in the Autonomous Administration, becoming a model for the women of the world.
In the Syrian civil war, the people of Rojava chose neither foreign powers nor the anti-democratic Syrian regime. They opted for the third path based on the paradigm of ‘Democratic Autonomy’ and ‘Democratic Nation’, which was developed by the imprisoned leader of our movement Abdullah Öcalan, and started the Rojava Revolution in 2012. Step by step, they expelled the forces of the Syrian regime from their cities, and declared self-administrated cantons. Self-defense and self-government systems were created. The women’s self-defense force, the Women’s Defense Forces (YPJ), announced its formation on 4 April 2013. The Rojava Revolution became an alternative model in the Middle East and always it continued to develop. With this resistance and the knowledge of equal representation and self-defense, Rojava became an example of living together and thus took on the historical responsibility associated with this visibility as the whole world looked on. It made a great impact on the people and especially on women. The butterfly of freedom flew from Rojava, left its seal in the 21st century with the magical formula of ‘Jin Jiyan Azadi’ in East Kurdistan, causing this slogan to become universal. This magic, on the path of women’s freedom, carried the meaning and symbol that the 21st century would become the century of women. From Indonesia to India, from Kenya to Catalonia and Abya Yala (Latin America), this became the method and slogan of the people’s struggle against colonialism.
‘Gang export’ against the Rojava model
In opposition to the Rojava model that has become a line in the Middle East; the religious fanatic, nationalist, sexist ideologies of capitalist modernity have been set in motion. The Turkish state emerged on its own initiative as a representative of this ideology. It brought in gangs from both inside and outside to implement misogynist, political Islamist and racist-fascist policies on Syrian soil. The export of these gangs is not only limited to Syria, it has exported gangs to Libya, Sudan, Somalia and many other parts of the world. Its goal was to spread its policies that are nothing but hostile to women and to the people of the world. Since it is not our topic, we won’t go into it too much, but those who are interested can research where in Africa the gangs of the Turkish state are stationed and how they commit crimes against the people. Everyone knows that one of the biggest financiers and supporters of the Syrian Civil War is the Turkish state. The oil and economic relations to jihadist gangs have come to light as well as the ideological ties with these gangs are detailed in many documents of international organisations.
Al Nusra, defeated by YPJ, returned under the name of HTS
In these days, with the process that started with the occupation of Aleppo, many parties including the European countries saw HTS, which is the current name of Al Qaeda and Al Nusra, as the ‘soft’ candidate of the Syrian government. The very first attacks of this organisation were carried out in Serêkaniyê against Rojava, and were defeated by the self-defense forces, which included YPJ. ISIS emerged and was unleashed into Syria, and with the help of imperialist states and regional hegemonic forces. In October 2014 they attacked the canton of Rojava, Kobanê. YPJ organised as a self-defense force and took its place in the war to defend Kobane. When Kobanê was liberated, the first flag that was raised was that of YPJ. YPJ, which includes thousands of women organised for self-defense, fought against ISIS in Manbij, Tabqa, Raqqa and Deir ez-Zor and played a major role in liberating those cities.
In Afrin the line of women’s freedom has been targeted
On 20 January 2018, the Turkish state attacked the canton of Afrin with the approval of the hegemonic powers. The Turkish state’s relationship with the paramilitary forces it used in Syria was revealed with the attack on Afrin. About 25 ISIS gangs were also involved in the attacks, under the name Free Syrian Army. The whole world watched this brutal state attack against a small city. Afrin was occupied by the Turkish state and its gangs on 18 March. Just as it is everywhere else, so was it in Afrin: the first targets of the invaders were women. The footage of the torture that was carried out on the body of YPJ fighter Barîn Kobanê was released by the Turkish state and its affiliated gangs. From this footage it was clear how great the rage and hatred of the Turkish state and its affiliated gangs is against women. An unknown number of girls were abducted in Afrin. Women were raped. The incidents against women grow with every day that passes.
Human Rights Organization Efrin stated that 30 percent of attacks in the city are against women and reported that many of them are girls. The report states that 500 women were murdered in different ways, 60 women were sexually assaulted. According to the report; The fate of thousands of women who were abducted by the “military police” belonging to the Turkish state is not known, some of those women were released in exchange for a ransom. After the city was occupied, 500,000 people, half of whom were women, left the city because they knew how brutal the gangs were, and continued their lives in the Shehba-Til Rifat refugee camps. In particular, the members of Sultan Murat’s Gang committed many brutal acts against Kurdish women in Afrin. In the city where demographics were changed, women and Kurds did not remain. Thousands of women faced rape, women cannot go out without men’s permission and the crimes of the gangs have been expanding.
Hevrin Khalef’s killers are in Aleppo
On 9 October 2019, the Turkish state and ISIS-affiliated gangs, including the Syrian National Army (SNA), launched an invasion offensive against the Rojava cities of Serêkaniyê and Girê Spî. The Turkish state and its gangs have committed war crimes against hundreds of women. Let’s bring some of them to mind. The initial target of the invaders were again women. On 12 October the co-chair of the Syrian Future Party, Hevrin Khalef, was ambushed in her vehicle and murdered on the M4 road. Gangs published their crime on digital media accounts. In the UN reports, it was shown that Hevrin Khalef was murdered by the Ahrar Sharkiye gang. This gang, belonging to the Turkish state, has joined the war in Aleppo today.
On 26 October the body of YPJ fighter Amara Rênas was tortured and this was filmed on camera by mercenary gangs affiliated with the Turkish state. The groups that carried out and recorded this torture shared it on digital media accounts. According to the data received by the Human Rights Organization of Cizre Region; many women were abducted from village in the Girê Spî region. Also, black veils were imposed on women. In Serekaniyê, where people from different ethnic and religious groups lived together peacefully before the occupation, five Chechen, 50 Arab and 120 Kurdish women were abducted by the gangs of the Turkish occupying state between 2019 and 2022, according to reports by human rights organisations.
Those who feast with wolves weep with shepherds
In Syria, where human lives are reduced to commodities and traded for profit without regard for humanity, certain forces—who have been active participants in causing the war—periodically publish reports under the guise of human rights, presenting the balance sheet of the conflict. These same powers, embodying the proverb “Those who feast with the wolves, and weep with the shepherds,” reveal their hypocrisy by issuing reports that expose how this geography has been turned into a living hell.
The head of the UN Syrian Investigation Commission, Paulo Serêgio Pinheiro, in an interview he gave in 2023, admitted that the Turkish state and its affiliated gangs targeted the Kurdish areas and said: “In Afrin, Serekani and its surroundings, the Syrian National Army belonging to the Turkish state takes people hostage, commits atrocities, and commits war crimes such as torture and rape against the people. Many people were killed in air and ground attacks. Moreover, in Kurdish areas, looting, encroachment on people’s homes, and displacement of people continue unabated. All societies in these places and existing cultures are under attack. UNESCO heritage sites were looted and destroyed with bulldozers.”
In this region, they cannot easily do whatever they like
It should be clearly stated that the chronological statistical data we have given above is the tip of the iceberg to show who is fighting against whom in Syria today. Despite all the attacks of occupation, displacements, demographic changes, rapes, murders, kidnapping and imprisonment of women; the Rojava revolution has remained on its feet. The Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria has proven that the trinity of man-state-violence in the Middle East, is not our fate. As a part of this line of resistance, undoubtedly the struggle that is going on in the mountains of Kurdistan has a great connection with the line of peoples’ and women’s self-defense. The Turkish state and its backing forces had to realise once again that they cannot do everything they want so easily in this region, especially in Kurdistan.
7 October and legitimising violence
Exactly at this point, all fascist patriarchal state forces around the world are in the process of waging a new war to divide the region with unlimited violence of the dominant male mentality. Through the hands of the Turkish state, the guardian of hegemony in the Middle East, they are once again trying to keep this geography engulfed in violence. In fact, the spark that ignited this process was the Hamas-Israeli conflict on 7 October, and since then, the trampling of human dignity and the unlimited use of violence have been increasingly legitimised. In short, the dominant forces in this war have agreed, providing covert support to one another, with the implicit message: “No matter what you do to the people and women, no one will hold you accountable”. Another aspect of this agreement is the growth of patriarchy. The forces of the system, through their direct involvement in proxy wars and the use of gang militias as intermediaries, are wielding violence without limits against humanity, aiming to cultivate patriarchy and male dominance above all other values.
Women know the truth of these gangs hiding behind their new image
It is necessary to understand the true face of the war that began on 26 November 2024 against Aleppo, continued with the occupation of Hama, Homs and led to the fall of the Assad regime in Damascus. The hegemonic powers have revitalised HTS and SNA by giving them a new image. They want to suffocate the region of the Rojava Revolution, which has blossomed with the struggles and efforts of women, and turn it into a hell. There is a saying; ‘In wars, the truth is murdered first’.
Nowadays, amidst the dust and chaos, on the maps there is a race to acquire land. On those maps, on the screens, places marked with a dot, and instructions are given for their capture. Millions of people live in these places, represented simply as dots on a map, and in the mind of the dominant male, there is no concern for these millions of people or for the situation of women there. No one cares about the plight of the millions of people living there, especially the situation of women. All that matters is the spoils to be gained by the outside players. This oldest memory of this land, the sickness that has plagued it for so long, only increases the imperial appetite for more.
Since the beginning of the civil war in Syria, this image has become familiar. Now it presented anew as a revival of warring herds of men whose beards have been trimmed a little more. But no matter how much image work is done, all the people living in this region, especially women, recognise from their own experience the misogyny in the mentality of these herds of men that manifests itself in hostility towards women. Even if they present themselves in a newly coloured image.
Past and future are colliding in the present
In Syria and across the world, the ongoing third world war must be analysed through the lens of war politics, where, beyond economic and interest-related aspects, the greatest struggle lies between two opposing life philosophies. Regardless of the developments since 2011, efforts to revert to the starting point persist. Yet, the progress made so far clearly shows that no other force in the region stands for the people and for women, apart from the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES), the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), and the Women’s Protection Units (YPJ). All these organisational models represent a current embodiment of the historical resistance of thousands of years. The collective social memory of the past and the aspirations for the future are in the ‘present’ locked in intense conflict.
This geography, where the agricultural culture of women in Til Khalaf clashed thousands of years ago with the patriarchal culture of Al Ubeyd, has become a battleground. It is a geography which was and is simultaneously dedicated to fostering egalitarian societies, but which at the same time has established slave systems. By understanding the lessons of the past and the ongoing events today, we have the chance to shape a brighter future.
‘Either socialism or barbarism’
The people’s leader Abdullah Öcalan stated; “In the 21st century, either barbarism or socialism will prevail.” We can interpret this in the sense: “Either Jin Jiyan Azadî (Women, Life, Freedom) or Men, State, Violence will prevail.” Hegemonic wars are essentially always about capital and power based on the ruling male mentality of domination. According to this mentality, money and power represent the main object of human knowledge, speech and every form of human will. Groups that remain outside of power, such as societies and women, are objects that can be exploited in all possible ways. The displacement of millions of people from their homes and lands, severing them from their socialisation and culture, breaking their hopes, and scattering them to all corners of the world; all this is carried out with deliberate intent. Individuals and communities stripped of faith, hope, and spirituality become vulnerable to all forms of evils. Today, the war in Syria reveals the tragedies we live with: efforts to dissolve the strength of the social fabric and erase the historical memory. Through this war, there is an attempt to turn people into an enemy of themselves and to destroy the future of society, through anger and despair.
With the knowledge that those who resist are are the ones who truly create history, from now it is clear that the way out of this crisis is possible with the democratic, ecological paradigm based on women’s freedom, and the signs of this are emerging day by day.
