Rojava’s revolution is ‘for the whole of nations’: YPG volunteer
The Rojava revolution has inspired people from around the world, attracting volunteers to join Kurdish ranks in the war against ISIS in northern Syria and build a new society in the self-autonomous region.
A volunteer with the Kurdish YPG from Chicago, going by his nom de guerre Arkesh Chamchali, said he was drawn to the women’s revolution and the idea of a system of governance based on direct democracy.
“This revolution is not only for the nation of Rojava, but for the whole of nations,” he said.
Chamchali fought against Turkish forces and allied Syrian militias in Afrin.
“What I saw there was mainly the same people we were fighting against in Raqqa… a number of different Islamist and fundamentalist groups and how they were blatantly supported by the Turkish state,” he said.
Turkey launched its Operation Olive Branch against Afrin on January 20, taking full control of the canton two months later.
Ankara considers the YPG and the ruling political party in Rojava, the PYD, branches of the PKK. Turkey framed its military offensive as a counter-terror operation.
The Kurdish groups deny the terror charge – as do their US allies.
“We don’t want to be allied with any terrorist organization, nor do we think that we are,” US Ambassador to NATO Kay Bailey Hutchinson said on Thursday in answer to a question from Rudaw’s Znar Shino.
The US is allied with the YPG under the umbrella of the SDF in the war against ISIS in northern Syria, despite the repeated objections from fellow NATO member Turkey.
In the final days of the Afrin operation, Turkish leaders threatened to take the fight with the YPG across Rojava, beginning with Manbij where the US military has an outpost.
Tensions appear to have eased, however.
Hutchinson said they have had “many talks with our allies in Turkey. We have no interest in changing the borders of Syria in any way that would affect Turkey.”
She explained that the US focus is on the war with ISIS, commending their Kurdish allies in that fight and said Turkey could also “be helpful in that regard if they will also assure that we’re fighting ISIS and they’re not impeding that fight in any way.”
Hutchinson is in Brussels to attend a NATO ministerial meeting on Friday.
A volunteer with the Kurdish YPG from Chicago, going by his nom de guerre Arkesh Chamchali, said he was drawn to the women’s revolution and the idea of a system of governance based on direct democracy.
“This revolution is not only for the nation of Rojava, but for the whole of nations,” he said.
Chamchali fought against Turkish forces and allied Syrian militias in Afrin.
“What I saw there was mainly the same people we were fighting against in Raqqa… a number of different Islamist and fundamentalist groups and how they were blatantly supported by the Turkish state,” he said.
Turkey launched its Operation Olive Branch against Afrin on January 20, taking full control of the canton two months later.
Ankara considers the YPG and the ruling political party in Rojava, the PYD, branches of the PKK. Turkey framed its military offensive as a counter-terror operation.
The Kurdish groups deny the terror charge – as do their US allies.
“We don’t want to be allied with any terrorist organization, nor do we think that we are,” US Ambassador to NATO Kay Bailey Hutchinson said on Thursday in answer to a question from Rudaw’s Znar Shino.
The US is allied with the YPG under the umbrella of the SDF in the war against ISIS in northern Syria, despite the repeated objections from fellow NATO member Turkey.
In the final days of the Afrin operation, Turkish leaders threatened to take the fight with the YPG across Rojava, beginning with Manbij where the US military has an outpost.
Tensions appear to have eased, however.
Hutchinson said they have had “many talks with our allies in Turkey. We have no interest in changing the borders of Syria in any way that would affect Turkey.”
She explained that the US focus is on the war with ISIS, commending their Kurdish allies in that fight and said Turkey could also “be helpful in that regard if they will also assure that we’re fighting ISIS and they’re not impeding that fight in any way.”
Hutchinson is in Brussels to attend a NATO ministerial meeting on Friday.