Stop the Turkish state terror and defend the women’s revolution.

Since December 23, in the shadow of the Christmas holidays, Turkey has intensified its attacks on North and East Syria. This is a violation of international law. 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 fascist Turkish state justified the attacks by claiming a need for self-defense and appealing to Article 51 of the UN Charter. This claim is unfounded and false, as there have been no attacks or threats against Turkey’s borders from northern Syria.

The truth is that the attacks are 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. This is a project which stands in the way of its dream of realizing a neo-Ottoman empire. The UN and its mission should not be used as an instrument to justify war crimes and human rights violations.

The entire border region is under attack by drones, warplanes and artillery, mainly concentrated in Qamishlo, Hesekê and Kobane. Turkey’s intensified attacks constitute war crimes, as they specifically target civilian infrastructure, civilian facilities and production sites in populated areas. At least eight civilians have been killed and dozens injured in the intensified and ongoing attacks over the Christmas period. The aim of the attacks is to make daily life impossible, create instability in the region, revive ISIS, intimidate people in the region and force them to flee.

Turkey’s targeted goals, which have been bombed by warplanes and drones for days, show that it’s goal cannot be self-defense, but to make life impossible for the population. Health facilities such as the hospital in Kobanê, the dialysis Center and an oxygen production facility for hospitals in Qamishlo have been bombed. The Alaya prison, where ISIS prisoners are held, was bombed as part of the attacks to create insecurity and encourage ISIS prisoners to break out. Several power generation plants were bombed, resulting in around 2,600 villages and nine towns currently being cut off from the power supply. Grain silos, olive oil production plants, wedding halls, a printing house, food production plants, internal security checkpoints, civilian houses and other places were bombed. The latest attacks show once again that what Turkey is doing is nothing other than terror against the population in North and East Syria. We must take a stand against this Turkish state terror.

As Kongra-Star, the women’s movement active in the region, we strongly condemn the current threat of war and the attacks that have followed it. We women in North and East Syria know the importance of the women’s revolution and its achievements, and we will not give up. The women’s revolution opens an alternative path for women of all communities in the region. It gives hope and encourages all women to struggle for freedom and peace in the Middle East and worldwide to resist a patriarchal system of domination based on war, exploitation and oppression – we have to defend this hope together!

As Kongra Star Women’s Movement, we therefore call on the democratic public, women’s organizations, human rights groups and especially women’s rights activists worldwide to

•  show solidarity with the women’s revolution in North and East Syria,
• campaign publicly and politically to stop the brutal attacks,
• demand accountability for the war crimes committed by Turkey and
• support our call for a no-fly zone over North and East Syria to prevent future waves of attacks.

Kongra Star Women’s Movement

27 decemer 2023