Rojava : Trump has abandoned the Kurdish people to the Fascists Erdoğan and Assad

On 19 December 2018 the Trump administration announced that it intended to withdraw its troops from Syria. While this marks a tactical turnaround in US foreign policy, it should not be taken to mean that US imperialism has in any way given up its claims over the region. It is first and foremost intended as clear sign authorising Erdoğan to launch an offensive against Rojava. That is what it is really about for Trump : maintaining his strategic alliance with the Turkish State as a fellow member of NATO, even if it means sacrificing his Kurdish ally of convenience. Trump’s decision is just more step in the war being played about in the region between the different imperialist powers.

Stationed mainly in Rojava, the US army has been present in Syria since 2014 as part of the international coalition fighting the Islamic State alongside France and the UK. Its 2,000 troops have aided the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), an Arab-Kurdish military coalition led by the YPG/YPJ, with airstrikes, logistic support and weapons supplies.

At the same time, Russian imperialism is looking to regain control in the region, setting itself up as a mediator between the Syrian regime, its historical ally, and Turkey, with negotiations already underway. The Syrian regime has deployed troops around the town of Manbij at the request of the Kurds. No Turkish military occupation could go ahead without the green light from Russia, as in the case of the operation against the Afrin Canton in January 2018.

While the international coalition was happy to put Kurds on the front line to fight the Islamic State, today certain sections of the US administration feel that they are no longer useful. And now that their US ‘ally’ is set to leave, the Kurds are turning to the Syrian regime for protection against Turkey. But Assad’s fascist regime will not be a true ally either, seeking to retake control of Rojava in line with the interests of its Russian imperialist ally. The French government together with several US politicians have criticised the announced US military withdrawal, but only because they fear the spread of Russian and Iranian influence and not out of support for the progressive project in Rojava.

We are critical of the PYD’s tactical alliance with the imperialist forces and of the strategy based on Democratic Confederalism they seek to roll out in the region. It always comes to a point when peoples fighting for their rights have no other choice but to face imperialism head on in order to advance along the path to liberation, even if tactical alliances may occasionally be necessary.

Rojava stills remains a progressive space for the peoples who live there. We denounce all and any military offensives against Rojava and reaffirm our support for the Kurdish people’s right to self-determination. It should also be noted that revolutionary forces, primarily communists, are taking part in this fight, and we believe that they hold out an alternative for the peoples of this region, notably in the form of the TKP/ML TİKKO.

The OCML Voie Prolétarienne sides firmly with the Kurdish movement in its stand against Erdoğan military threats, which must be combatted just as its prime ally in our own country, Emmanuel Macron, must be combatted as the head of French imperialism. Neither the Kurds nor the proletariat should put their trust in imperialism ! This is clearly illustrated by the silence of the French State in the face of the murder in Paris of three Kurdish militants, Sakine, Fidan and Leyla, in January 2013 by the Turkish secret service, together with the criminalisation of the Turkish and Kurdish progressive and revolutionary organisations in Europe.

Down with the Fascist Turkish State ! Down with imperialism ! Long live the Kurdish resistance ! Justice for Sakine, Fidan and Leyla !

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