The 'other' Kurds (PKK) fighting the Islamic State

litwin · Sep 2, 2014

great article , comments

Moreover, ever since Kurdish forces took control of Rojava in 2012, they have been marginalised, as regional and international powers imposed political and economic embargoes on them. The reason for this is the ideological affiliation of the most influential party in Rojava, the Democratic Union Party (PYD), with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has been struggling against Turkey for decades. The YPG/YPJ are the general defence units of the Rojava cantons, and are close to the PYD.

Turkey conveniently allowed open supply and recruitment channels for the jihadists which strengthened their forces in their fight against Rojava. At the same time, the KDP - a traditional rival of the PKK - did not take the threat of the Islamic State seriously and even dug a border trench (the "trench of treason") between its territory and Rojava.

While the Yazidis expressed their anger at the KDP peshmergas' withdrawal from Sinjar in early August, the YPG/YPJ forces crossed the now meaningless Syrian-Iraqi border to rescue the stranded Yazidis. They soon were joined by the guerrillas of the PKK. After having created a humanitarian corridor to lead the refugees to Rojava, they established a refugee camp in Derik, where the people await further humanitarian aid. The YPG/YPJ forces and PKK guerrillas now hold posts in south Kurdistan and continue to fight the Islamic State, along with the US-backed peshmergas.

Had policy makers listened to the warnings of Rojava, let alone supported their efforts to establish secular, democratic structures, the Islamic State would definitely not have come so far. Instead, the Kurds were excluded from the Geneva-II peace conference in early 2014, PYD politicians were repeatedly denied visas to EU-countries and the US, and the embargoes continue.

Limits of military intervention

It is important to remember how we got to this point: the US "war on terror", global arms trade, sectarianism exploited by different governments, hijacking of the so-called Arab Spring, Islamophobia, and global patriarchy.

Military intervention cannot destroy the popularity the Islamic State enjoys among some Sunni Arabs, who were excluded by the sectarian politics of Maliki's Shiite Iraq and Assad's Alawite Syria, nor the immense trauma caused in Muslim-majority countries from unjust US-led wars. It will not take back all the financial and military resources poured into radical groups via Gulf states.

This foreign policy, which exploited sectarian divides, established hegemonic proxies, and thus perpetuated a system of complete dependency in the region, cannot be genuine in its claim to support "freedom and democracy" in the Middle East. How can top arms suppliers talk about the "morality" of arming friendly forces, after they casually sold the same arms to governments that support jihadists?

No surprise that those outside of these parameters of dependency, the YPG/YPJ and the PKK, were able to fight a force like the Islamic State the best, without relying on anybody's weapons or approval, rescuing ten thousands of Yazidis, and teaching the international community a lesson in humanitarian intervention.

Only the people can liberate themselves

Altough the Islamic State and the PKK fight on the opposite sides of the battle for Syria and Iraq, both group are labelled as terrorist. The PKK started out with the aim of an independent Kurdish state in the 1970s, but long transformed its vision and now advocates regional autonomy or "democratic confederalism" through grassroots democracy, gender equality, and ecology, while rejecting the nation-state as an oppressive, backward institution.

It is intellectually and journalistically lazy and factually fraudulent to keep calling the PKK a separatist organisation, as many news outlets do.The PKK condemned civilian attacks that were committed in their name, declared several unilateral ceasefires and currently is engaging in peace talks. Even the Turkish state accepts the PKK as a negotiating partner.
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http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/op...s-fighting-islamic-stat-2014928753566705.html

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The 'other' Kurds (PKK) fighting the Islamic State

litwin Well-Known Member

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The 'other' Kurds (PKK) fighting the Islamic State

litwin Well-Known Member

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