International Bulletin / Issue 202 / September 202

The neo-Ottoman colonialist Turkish state is escalating its war aggression on Rojava, which has been progressing as the first example of revolution in the 21st century. Along with increasing its troops along the border, the fascist chief Erdogan keeps on spreading statements pointing out an immense military operation on the "east of the Euphrates River", that is, on the free lands of Rojava.
Although this may appear to be an old story for those who are familiar with Erdogan's repeating hostile preparations and statements against Rojava for at least more than 4 years, the current situation seems to differ itself from the previous ones, leading us to say that now the expected occupation attack is at the door.
Benefiting from the contradictions among the imperialist powers in the region, the Turkish state has so far managed to sneak into Syria and became a military power together with its numerous jihadist gangs. Even though its main motivation is to set and break down the political progress of the Kurdish liberation movement, the neo-Ottoman colonial dream of Erdogan has always been on the course, seeking to spread its colonialist power not only in Syria but also the North Iraq as well. However, this dream has not actualized itself as the moves of an independent actor so far, but remained depended on the permission of the imperialist powers. Although the particular compelling manner of this fake Ottoman Sultan played an important role to fill the gap coming out by the contradictions of the imperialists, all of its invasions such as those on Jarablus-Azaz region or Afrin, as well as its "observation posts" that are deployed to protect numerous Jihadist gangs in Idlib, had been conditioned to the permission of those imperialist powers; either Russia or the U.S., or both of them together.
Thus, the Turkish state has intensified its compelling efforts to get a permission from the US for an occupation attack on Rojava, which exposed itself as a "peace corridor" to be created on the east of the Euphrates River. For the Turkish state, playing the Russian card as a NATO member has been the major pressure on the U.S., which does not seek to lose its historically major gendarme in the Middle East, and these efforts have finally resulted in a concrete progress which was announced on August; the "safe zone" agreement.
According to the joint statement, Turkey and the U.S. agreed to set up a Turkey-based operations center to establish and manage a safe zone in North and East Syria. The agreement also addressed "the rapid implementation of initial measures to address Turkey‘s security concerns", and securing that „every effort shall be made so that displaced Syrians can return to their country".
Under the name "peace corridor", Turkish state is pushing for creating a 30km deep area under their military control along the border, which is supposed to be filled with the "Syrian refugees" in Turkey. Because, apart from the need to destroy the revolutionary progress of the peoples of Rojava, Erdogan is also trying to find a place to locate its jihadist gangs, which are squeezed in Idlib due to the ongoing operations of the Russian backed Assad regime. However, the agreement did not specify the height and time the zone would be created, nor the command structure of the forces that would operate there. Since from August, some concrete steps have been carried out towards the agreement, such as the establishment of the operation center in Urfa province of Turkey or a couple of joint observation flights above the border. Moreover, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which had announced their positive intentions to leave a 5km deep area along the border to be guarded by the local security forces of those lands, has retrieved in some areas as so. However, the ambiguity about the size and the command of the area has so far remained same, although Erdogan kept on playing the Russian card in the meantime, pointing out the Russian SU jets this time as a counter-move not only for the US' sanctions on F-35 program but also for the limited ‘visa' to enter Rojava. And this ambiguous situation has finally let him to shift from implications to direct words on 5 September, together with over-trumping the balance this time with the refugee card against Europe: "Turkey is determined to actively initiate formation of a safe zone in Syria along the eastern line of the Euphrates River in its own way by the last week of September (...) We may have to let them (the refugees) cross into Europe to get support."
Following the policy of creating a de facto situation to launch an attack on Rojava, the Turkish state is pushing the US to make a choice in favor of its NATO ally against its "local partner". Even though these two NATO allies have been at odds over their conjunctural policies mostly on the field of Syria, what really matters for the imperialist US is to recover its decreasing hegemony in Middle East and in this regard, it will definitely be wrong to expect that U.S. will decisively preserve its guarding position for North and East Syria against Turkish state. In the context of the safe zone agreement, although the US seem to represent SDF's conditions in the negotiation table, at the end of the day, it bargains for its own interests. The SDF is not on the table directly; so its red lines about the so called "safe zone" (such as maximum 5km size or no Turkish military force in the area) can easily be crossed by the US, once it becomes a drag on its own imperialist interests. It is a historical truth that there is no such a thing like trusting the imperialists.
This reality has never been a surprise for the revolutionary forces of Rojava. The revolution did not sparked by the help of any imperialist or regional powers, nor it is shaped and progressed so far under their political influence. At the expense of thousands of martyrs and great sacrifices of the peoples of Rojava, the revolutionary progress followed its own way and created a democratic-popular power based on communal organization where peoples from various nations, religions and sects do directly govern themselves in a equal and just way of representation. In this regard, the Rojava revolution is aware of the fact that their future cannot be secured by trusting to the imperialists; the Afrin occupation has already proved this fact! The ‘revolution' can be preserved only by its own revolutionary power.
A possible colonialist attack on Rojava does not only signifate a war between the Turkish state and Kurdistan revolution. While having the Rojava revolution in one hand, which became a revolutionary example for the peoples of Middle East by progressing and spreading its popular-democratic and women emancipatory system over the North and East Syria, and the colonialist fascist Turkish state that represents one of the most brutal reactionarism of the world on the other, the war among these actors will definitely be a battle between the revolution and counter-revolution!
Yes, unlike trusting the imperialist powers, the revolution can preserve itself by leaning on its own revolutionary forces, which cannot be considered without the international solidarity of the progressive and revolutionary forces of the world. Keeping in mind the fact that siding with the first revolution of the 21st century against Turkish colonialism has a much broader meaning than defending only the Kurdistan or the Middle East revolution, it is time to defend the world revolution itself by standing against this counter-revolutionary attack at the door. Let's turn the fascist reactionary dreams of Erdogan into a nightmare by rising our international revolutionary solidarity with the Rojava revolution everywhere!