Kongra Star Women’s Movement has publicly condemned the recent Turkish military attacks on North and East Syria, labelling them as violations of international law.
On the evening of 23 December 2023, the Turkish state initiated a series of attacks on the region, targeting mainly civilian facilities and causing widespread material damage, disrupting electricity, injuring at least 25 individuals and resulting in eight fatalities.
“The fascist Turkish state is using the public distraction of Christmas & the Israel/Gaza conflict to commit war crimes in North and East Syria,” the Kongra Star stated.
Turkey has justified these attacks as a means of self-defence, citing alleged Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) assaults on Turkish military bases in the Kurdish region of northern Iraq. However, Kongra Star contends that these justifications are mere attempts to legitimise what they describe as illegal attacks and war crimes, and “part of the Turkish state’s strategy to punish the Kurdish people for choosing the path of self-government and autonomy and for starting a women’s revolution in the region”.
Kongra Star, also known as the Star Congress, is a confederation of women’s organisations in Rojava, the autonomous region in North and East Syria. It was originally established in 2005 as Yekîtiya Star (Star Union) under the auspices of the Democratic Union Party (PYD) but rebranded as Kongra Star in 2016. The organisation is deeply rooted in the region’s Kurdish community, but it also represents various ethnic and religious groups present in Rojava.