Listen here to our daily update:
Dear friends, comrades, and sisters,
here is our daily update on the current situation in Rojava.
This morning a ceasefire agreement was announced, with both sides agreeing to it. The outcome of this should begin on Monday.
We are hopeful yet as many of the ceasefire agreements have been broken by the Syrian transitional government, it is hard not to be sceptical.
The agreement has been made in order to create a joint solution. Some key points have been agreed on with finer details still being negotiating. However, so much of this, as is often the case, will be decided in the practice, this will be decided in the day to day resistance and will of the people here. The struggle continues, in society, by the people more than ever.
The key points of the agreement are:
– a withdraw of all forces (both Syrian transitional government and SDF) from the front lines. This would put an end to the conflict, and the seige on Kobani would be released.
– In general all defence forces will be integrated into the Syrian transitional government, as brigades and not as individual people and their commanders will be selected by the SDF. Therefore the SDF will become an official part of the Syrian Army.
– military division will form comprising three brigades from the Syrian Democratic Forces, in addition to the formation of a Kobani brigade within a division affiliated with Aleppo Governorate.
-Autonomous Administration institutions into Syrian state institutions, and the employees will stay the same people as they are now.
-Asayish forces will be responsible for protecting areas with a Kurdish majority, security forces affiliated with the Interim Government’s Ministry of Interior will enter Qamishlo and Heseke, but only as a temporary basis to coordinate the transition and not on a permanent basis.
-Guaranties the return of all displaced people including Afrin and Serekani, including an end to the turkish occupation. The administration of currently occupied areas such as Afrin and Serekaniye will be managed by the residents of those areas. – Education requires more negotiations especially in terms of curriculum and the language it will be taught in. Education in a persons mother tongue is very important here. The proposal hat education is to be done in Arabic with a 2 hour a week optional Kurdish lesson was firmly rejected. Defence of language and culture will continue
– The YPJ and YPG are both part of the SDF and so are included in this integration however the topic of the YPJ is not in the agreement and will be discussed as a separate file in a later stage
-Kobanê will no longer be surrounded or attacked. Electricity, water, and humanitarian aid will be restored. The roads between the cities will be reopened,
In an interview with Mazlum Abdi he stressed that:
the institutions in the Kurdish areas will not change and so the gains of the revolution will be protected but a lot of struggle is needed. Civil institutions will become integrated into the state in the sense that they will become official and recognised however their work will continue as now.
The people here have seen times of a lot of difficulties, since the beginning of the revolution we have seen heavy attacks from Turkey and ISIS but not matter what we have continued. Still we will continue to struggle for our rights in a political way. The hope is really high.
The commitment of the international powers, the USA and France, to oversee this process and guarantee its lawful execution is crucial.
This means that international solidarity is essential, to make is known that the people, across the world, will not tolerate a genocide of the Kurdish people or any people’s in the middle east. Only through pressure, and making it known that the democratic forces of this world are strong and stand with the Rojava revolution, will this deal be successful.
It is hard to give an analysis on this as we learn about this new
However we know that the SDF and STG have been trying to integrate for almost a year. One thing that the SDF always insisted on was the integration of the SDF forces as units of brigades not as individual people. The Syrian transitional government always wanted an integration of person by person, thus loosing the strength in organisation. However with this agreement the SDF remains its as units.
Another sticking point in previous negotiations was the decision of about who would lead. With this agreement the SDF will decide who leads militarily in the Kurdish majority regions and not the Syrian transitional government.
If the ceasefire is kept it would have stopped an genocide of the Kurdish people that could of unfolded especially in Kobani.
However there are many points we are nervous about, and will only see with it’s implementation. Nothing is ever black or white, it is not one way or an other, it is never simply a win or loss.
To quote Aldar Xelîl
“We need to strengthen the resistance through democratic and peaceful methods. An agreement was reached, but it is not correct to say that everything is over.”
But what we do know is that The hegemonic power have been trying to destroy this revolution not just for the pas 15 year but for 52 years. And still they have not managed.
This ceasefire deal is significantly better than the one just 2 weeks ago, and although it is still very early to tell, may not be so different to what was being negotiated and ready to sign before the war.
Maybe, like always they underestimated the people. Maybe they thought with their armies, tanks, war planes, and the backing of all hegemonic forces, including financial backing, that they would be able to destroy this revolution. That they would be able to enter the Kurdish regions and genocide the people.
But what we saw was resistance. We saw a full mobilisation of a moral and politic society, taking up their own defence. We saw and will continue to see the people across the world, especially in the 4 parts of Kurdistan unite, across borders, and join the struggle, the struggle for life, for a free life, and for a life where woman can be free.
There are many questions now. A jihadist is in power with the backing of the west, ISIS forces are organising, we worry for the women of Raqqa and Tabqa and indescribable brutalities and pain has been inflicted on the people, especially over the last 3 weeks.
What is clear, however, is that society will continue to resist.
Women have built up a collective knowledge that they will pass on, along with their values. Society will continue to be ready to fight and defend the values and ideas of the women’s revolution, within these new structures.
revolutionary greetings from Rojava
