They want to do away with the Kurds

Fehim Işık

“The guerrilla, who resist today against the occupation in Metina, Zap and Avaşin, deserve the most credit for the destruction of ISIS/Daesh. The guerrilla also has a share of the credit for the liberation of Rojava (North and East Syria) and the subsequent international visibility of Rojava,” writes Fehim Işık for Yeni Özgür Politika.

After Turkey’s defeat in Gare, many expected the beginning of an extensive military campaign. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Hulusi Akar, Süleyman Soylu and the like had been signalling a new campaign, because their mission is to complete the Kurdish genocide.

Neither Gare, nor the attacks launched on 23 April in Metina, Zap and Avaşin in northern Iraq, are parts of a short-term plan.

If they had not faced resistance and defeat in Gare, they would have continued their attack, spreading their military campaign throughout Metina, Zap and Avaşin.

Their purpose is so clear! Firstly, they plan to carve the geography of Kurdistan to pieces, so they can easily gain military control; secondly, they plan to destroy these smaller pieces one by one and complete the occupation.

Once they achieve this purpose, Mousul and Kirkuk will be “taken for granted”. The “destruction plan” they agreed upon in a National Security Council (MGK) meeting in 2014 shows they want to do away with the Kurds using massacres and a policy of oppression. To do this, they seek to draw boundaries between the Kurds and other communities in the region with different nationalities and religions by further dividing the Kurdish geography.

Only this time they do not attack with blaring trumpets, as they did in Gare, and there are good reasons for this. They are not really capable of seeing the possible outcomes of the attacks launched on 23 April. If they knew, their plans would work as they wish and then they could also play their political war games and launch their media-led propaganda war like they did in the Gare operation.

This time, they didn’t do that — they couldn’t do that! They cannot foresee what they will face. Previously, in Zap, they ran away, leaving the bodies of their soldiers buried under the snow. The bodies of the soldiers who had frozen to death were found by local villagers months later. And what happened in Gare is still fresh in the memory. In Gare they went farther and fared worse. Once bitten twice shy, now they try to act carefully in how they handle Metina, Zap and Avaşin.

One might not necessarily see that as a sign of weakness. This is a goal-driven perspective and part of the Turkish state’s cynical plan to accomplish the occupation. They want to block and intimidate the Kurds in order to be effective actors in the design of the region.

The Kurds should be the first to know that what the Turkish state wants to realise in the region is a matter of life and death for the Kurds.

The Turkish state has many opportunities and many relations with the Western states based on joint benefits. However, the Kurds are not the same as the Kurds of a hundred years ago. They are now known for their resistance, which marked the history of global resistance in the 21st century. Having had to pay a heavy price, the Kurds destroyed ISIS/Daesh, which was an international project.

The guerrilla, who resist today against the occupation in Metina, Zap and Avaşin, deserve the most credit for the destruction of ISIS/Daesh. The guerrilla also has a share of the credit for the liberation of Rojava (North and East Syria) and the subsequent international visibility of Rojava.

But these are not enough to achieve a result, to win over the barbarism of the Turkish state and the silence of the world. What is needed is the spirit of the resistance against ISIS/Daesh. If the Kurds and their friends do not become the voice of those who resist against occupation and help to create a spirit of resistance, the occupiers will get their “job” done on the quiet.