Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced on Monday that he would soon launch another Turkish invasion of Rojava, the region also known as “Northern Syria” which is defended by the Syrian Democratic Forces. The Turkish state under Erdogan has invaded Rojava three times, first in al-Bab 2016, then in Afrin 2018, and most recently in Serekaniye 2019. These invasions have been fueled by the Turkish state’s anti-Kurdish ethnic cleansing policies, which have gone so far as supporting ISIS and shutting off vital water access to annihilate Rojava’s population. The Turkish state’s actions in Rojava have been described as acts of genocide, given their disproportionate harm to Kurdish civilians.
It is important to note that this is NATO’s second largest “ally” committing these crimes, often with full consent of the NATO Headquarters. The Turkish state claims the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and any group affiliated with its ideology are “terrorist organizations.” While this claim has been debunked and viewed as baseless by many in the international community, the Turkish state has been successful in integrating its propaganda machine into the European Union and NATO, which have also listed the PKK as a terror organization. Belgium, the only NATO state to closely evaluate these claims, ruled to delist the PKK from its list of terror organizations in 2020 citing insufficient evidence. Under the same premises, the Parliament of Catalonia has refused to list the PKK as a terror organization and instead became the first regional assembly in Europe to recognize Rojava.
Erdogan’s call for a fourth invasion comes in the midst of the Turkish state’s objection to Sweden and Finland joining NATO over their indirect support for the Syrian Democratic Forces and granting asylum to exiled Turkish and Kurdish dissidents. NATO Secretary Jens Stoltenberg has remained complacent to Turkish state’s demands, Tweeting on Saturday: “Spoke with President @RTErdogan of our valued Ally #Turkey on the importance of #NATO’s Open Door and the membership applications by #Finland & #Sweden. We agree that the security concerns of all Allies must be taken into account and talks need to continue to find a solution.”
Stoltenberg twice defended the Turkish state’s invasion of Rojava both in 2018 and 2019, not condemning the invasions but rather condemning dissent of the invasions.
