On Saturday night (November 20th, 2022), the Turkish state launched a series of new aerial attacks across Rojava and Northern Syria as well as the mountains of Qandil and Asos in South Kurdistan (Northern Iraq). As result of these attacks eleven civilians have been killed and six others have been injured.
The Turkish state claims that these attacks, which it has dubbed “Operation Claw Sword”, were conducted as revenge for a bomb attack in Istanbul on November 13th, which killed six people. Only hours after the attack, the Turkish interior minister cast blame on Rojava. He went further and implicated the United States as well, claiming it was responsible for this attack by way of its military support for the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
For the Kurds it was clear early on that the Istanbul bomb attack was in fact fabricated by the Turkish state, in order to justify a new offensive against Rojava. This became even more obvious when evidence came to light tying the bombing suspects to the government-friendly ultranationalist MHP party and Turkey-affiliated jihadist organizations in Syria.
The attacks occurred across an area in which the USA and Russian are supposed to control the airspace. This shows us that both Russia and the USA gave the green light. Damningly, the day after the Istanbul bombing, Turkish president Erdoğan met with Biden in Bali. Moreover while the U.S. Central Command officially condemned Iranian cross-border strikes against South Kurdistan (Northern Iraq) on November 20th, it has remained completely silent about the Turkish attacks on the same day. The same hypocrisy applies to the European governments that do not condemn Turkish war crimes, but instead criminalize people protesting against them.
The international community’s janus-faced stance shows us that it is not enough to simply protest Turkey’s aggression against the Kurds and the democratic project of Rojava. We need to go further, and investigate international culpability for Turkey’s genocidal attacks, especially within NATO.
For this, your solidarity and active support is crucial. The Turkish military launched its latest attacks in the busy time leading up to November 25th, as the women’s movement of Rojava and North and East Syria have already started to campaign under the slogan “Against All Forms of State and Male Violence: Jin Jiyan Azadî”.
We understand Turkey’s attacks against our region as an offensive against the women’s revolution. Throughout this year, which marked the 10th year of the Rojava revolution, leading female figures have continued to be specifically targeted by the Turkish military and killed with armed drones. We can clearly see the link between Turkey’s military attacks and targeting female leaders of the revolution.
Therefore we believe that it is vitally important to organize a strong women’s front on a global level against Turkey’s femicidal and genocidal attacks, which are undertaken with the tacit support of NATO. We call on you to show your support in this crucial time by:
• Organizing protests against Turkey’s cross-border attacks on Rojava/Northern Syria and South Kurdistan (Northern Iraq)
• Declaring your solidarity with the people of the region and the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria
• Putting pressure on your government to denounce Turkey’s war crimes
• Asking the UN not to allow Turkey to legitimize its cross-border attacks with Article 51
• Raising awareness around the background context of Turkey’s attacks
• Preventing new attacks by building a unbreakable wall of solidarity that is impossible to ignore
• Join the Women Defend Rojava Campaign
Kongra Star Coordination
21st November 2022
