The concepts of Rojava and Northern Syria are passing together for some time and we're witnessing the reality of an expanding revolution. What are the reflections of this in military sense?

As the Rojava revolution expands to the regions where Arab people live, it started to embrace and include Arab, Syriac Turkmen peoples. The revolution has been expanded both in the sense of mass and the geography. This was meaning that the claim and objectives of the revolution have also been expanded. The vanguard forces of the revolution insisted on a political line for growing the mass each passing day. We, as MLKP, have taken our place in the defense and the expansion of the revolution and we continue to carry out these duties today. We're involving and playing our role for developing the military institutional works, the troops on the purpose of organizing and growing the defense forces of the revolution. We are growing the army and the defense forces of the revolution. The Democratic Syrian Forces (DSF) is an army which is established to defend the self-governance of Rojava revolution and Northern Syria revolution. We know that revolution is won and at the same time defended with the armed means. As we see in the Middle East reality, organizations may not even preserve their own existence here if they don't do politics with armed means and armed forces. For this reason, we, as MLKP, have been taking our part as a political military force since from the beginning of the Rojava revolution.

How do you evaluate the spread of the revolution to the other parts of Syria and its current poitical route? For instance, where do you place the ongoing developments in Idlib axis in this context?

Our Rojava revolution continued to expand towards Arab lands, Syrian territory. Undoubtedly, this development will have its own stages and limits in the future. So far, we have experienced the reactions of the ruling classes, especially the Turkish colonialism, against this reality. Turkish colonialism occupied Afrin by attacking our free lands and we had experienced a temporary situation of withdrawal and defeat. But for us, Afrin stands as a duty, a land of revolution which must be liberated. Afrin is a Kurdish region, whereas Idlib is where mostly Arabic people live. As I stated in the beginning of the interview, Rojava revolution began as a Kurdish revolution but right after, it has been expanded as a united revolution including other peoples of Syria. In that sense, Idlib actually stands as one of the regions that this revolution must reach. Unfortunately, there are various gangs in Idlib that are fighting against Rojava revolution and persecuting peoples of Syria.
An important amount of those gangs had been supported, trained, equipped with arms and driven into war by the coalition forces and their effective component, Turkey. Then, they were safely transferred to Idlib in various ways. Now, they are protected there and wanted to be strengthened by those who supply their arms and logistics as well as carry out diplomacy in an international level on behalf of them. These activities are conducted by Turkey itself and Tayyip Erdoğan plays the role of commander in chief of these gangs.

Since our revolution became a united and common revolution of Kurdish and Arab peoples, the liberation of Idlib stands as a fundamental political agenda of the forces of Rojava and Northern Syria revolution. This is not an issue of Russia, Iran, Turkey, the US nor the Assad regime which is known with its reactionism and cruelty. In fact, this issue must be the political agenda of the revolution forces fighting for the liberation of peoples. But today's conjuncture, the power relations and balances prevent us from moving rapidly to Idlib, carrying the revolution there and liberate peoples who are under the oppression and cruelty.

From our part, Idlib became a field where the current war in Syria has been locked up in some way. Yesterday, it was Afrin and now it is Idlib. The process is locked there. The more realistic and democratic way that this process would be unlocked towards is the perspective, the programme of Rojava revolution. Now there is a united programme of Syria, Russia, Iran and Turkey in Idlib. They have made some agreements and are taking steps according to this framework. However, these steps are not reflecting the interests of peoples who are the real owners of Idlib. They're acting completely according to their own imperialist colonialist regional interests which, as known, always lead to wars, crises and solutionlessness. In that sense, we will inevitably go to Idlib one day. The idea of this revolution, the revolution itself will be in Idlib. This is inevitable.

There is a series of political polarization and contradictions around the issue of Idlib. Why was the operation against gangs in Idlib postponed? Why has the process been locked up?
 
Syria, Iran and Russia wanted to organize a big operation in this field and Turkey did openly oppose it. The US and the coalition forces directly supported Turkey's policy by putting forward demagogies saying that "if there will be chemical weapons and mass slaughter, then we will take part in the operation". But we all know that it is the coalition forces, primarily the US, France, Britain as well as Turkey and Saudi Arabia, who made those gangs exist and gather in Idlib, who have trained them. As reactionary forces of the region and world, Russia and Iran are also part of this schema. As it is seen, there is a process in which the reactionary, fascist, colonialist and imperial forces got confronted in this narrow place of Idlib. They are trying to conduct this confrontation in a controlled manner in oder to prevent it to cause a greater level of state wars and lead to accelerate the world war process. Now, they give more weight to the diplomacy. There is a deadline until the 15th of October for the gangs to retrieve from gun-free zone. The latest information or the news released to the public, if true, is rumored to be in agreement with the deal that is made under the name of disarmament. However, some changes in equilibrium and in political conditions can quickly shift the situation to a war axis.

At the beginning of the Syrian civil war, Turkey openly took a position for overthrowing the Assad regime and creating new sovereignty areas in Syria for itself. Then, during the revolution process of Rojava, it shifted its political target to be against Rojava and Kurdistan revolution. In fact, Turkey's actual regional policy and the Middle East policy is entirely based on the opposition against Kurdistan and Kurdish people. What's happening in Idlib is not independent from this picture. Being as a direct side of the confrontation with its contribution to the gangs in the sense of diplomacy, military and logistic, Turkey has undertaken the political representative role of the gangs. Thus, it is also the Turkey itself who has been squeezed in Idlib. In other words, the squeezed and sieged situation of the gangs in Idlib directly reflects the situation of Turkey's politics in Syria and Middle East and we easily see that the owner of these policies, AKP and its leader Erdoğan, are not far from the process reflecting out from Idlib but rather, they are directly inside in it. Notice that the problems in the region and Idlib are going parallel with those in Turkey with different dimensions. That is to say, the process is reflecting on various parts of Turkey's politics in various ways such as economic crisis or diplomatic crises with international forces.

We have to say that the developments in Idlib, the way that it evolve will lead very important strategic developments regarding the existence of the gangs in Syria and their future, as well as Turkey's stance against Syria and the revolution of Kurdistan.

Does the situation in Idlib influence the struggle of Afrin's liberation?

Of course. The presence of the gangs in Idlib is an obstacle for the development of the Middle East revolution, and Afrin's liberation. We define it as a reason for war, we must define it as so. Because these gangs are the forces fighting directly with us and our peoples, organizing brutal massacres and actions. Fighting against them, removing them from these areas is one of our fundamental revolutionary duties. In this respect, perhaps they are not called as ISIS in Afrin, but we do have the actual duty aiming to remove these gangs which have occupied our free lands in Afrin as being the form of Turkish state's existence there. We are taking all our attention and energy to there. But we need to emphasize this fact: areas where the Kurds are now in Syria, in Middle East, are not the areas to be liberated. Kurds have won their freedom. Since the revolution here has been developed as a united revolution of Kurds and Arabs, the areas standing in front of us that are required to be liberated are those where Arabs are living now, of Farsi and Turks in the future. We consider these places as the lands of the unified revolution to expand, we must consider them as so. As MLKP, we have already been defending the perspective of regional revolutions and considering the developments in Syria and Middle East from this perspective. With respect to our existence here, we hold Rojava as the start and the continuation of the Middle East revolution. Our organizational and political military stance is in accordance with this idea. We define our existence, that is to say, our cause of struggle as so, and we continue to keep it.

The gangs will be removed from Idlib. This is a clear fact anymore. Turkey and the coalition forces are aware of the fact that they cannot hold the gangs in Idlib anymore neither drive them to war under this situation.

The Turkish state will look for positioning the gangs first in Afrin together with changing the demographic structure there. Then, it will try to benefit from them in Şehba, Ezaz and Cerablus lines, if it can manage to do so. Also, it will try to position them in Northern Kurdistan, on the border lines of Rojava to use them as a provocation force attacking our revolution. We're all aware of this. In fact, all the peoples and the ruling classes of the world are aware of it. So, instead of eliminating these gangs immediately, they are concentrating on where to use them more effectively in different periods.

Against this situation, we, as the forces of Rojava revolution, are carrying out our works based on two fundamental things: First, is our military preparations, to develop our organizational dimension in a military sense. Building military troops and such other workings are going on this respect. Second fundamental thing is to raise the consciousness of our people, to organize and position them on the basis of defending the revolution and its gains. Maybe we couldn't do it enough in Afrin, but today we're trying to do it, to deepen it in all self-governance areas of Rojava and Northern Syria.

Our people got know the gangs very well in the war. In Afrin, they got well recognized and tested the policies of the imperialist powers. Therefore, since they have experienced and recognized what extent they can or not trust other actors from themselves such as the colonialist powers, gangs, regional powers, imperialist gangs, today they are concentrating on growing their self-governance, self-organization, self-defense as well as spreading their own struggle power and freedom consciousness on a more realistic basis. At least, those who pioneered this revolution and those who continue this vanguard role are acting on this basis. An important part of our people are approaching the question on this basis. Now the process will determine the rest.