"Gegen die Strömung (Against the Current) - Organ for building the Revolutionary Communist Party of Germany"
January-February 2022
(translated from German by the International Marxist-Leninist Archive)
The democratic and revolutionary Kurdish forces in Rojava (northern Syria) are being attacked daily from Turkey and also from the areas in northern Syria occupied by the Turkish reactionary army.
In early February 2022, the reactionary Turkish regime intensified its attacks on Rojava and also on Kurdish areas in northern Iraq. At the same time, the Turkish air force bombed the village of Teqil Beqil near Dêrik in Rojava (northern Syria), several targets in Shengal and the Maxmur refugee camp in northern Iraq. The fighter jets took off from the Turkish military airport in Amed (in Turkish: Diyarbakir). Bombing, artillery shelling and drone strikes continued throughout February. There were numerous dead and injured. Of course, democratic resistance fighters also responded, for example, downing a drone driven by pro-Turkish mercenaries over the village of Beluniye near Tel Rifat.
The timing of the intensified Turkish military attack, dubbed the "Winter Claw," is not accidental. It came shortly after the large-scale attempt by IS fascists to free thousands of captured IS fascists from the Sina prison in Hesekê. 5,000 IS fascists are imprisoned there under the supervision of the Kurdish democratic self-government in Syria. This was the largest IS attack since 2019. It was a well-prepared and long-term plan. The outbreak of the IS fascists could only be prevented after several days of costly fighting.
The Turkish army and the IS fascists - and various other fascist mercenary troops in Syria and Iraq - are de facto allies. Their primary goal is to use all available means to smash the democratic power structures that have emerged in recent years, especially in northern Syria, and their organized base in the population. Democratic resistance fighters are repeatedly being murdered using drones, such as the co-chairman of the executive council of Shengal’s democratic self-government at the end of 2021. According to human rights organizations, since the Turkish invasion began four years ago, almost 8,500 people have been abducted from the Afrin area, where it is located democratic power before being occupied by the Turkish army. About half of them are missing.
Immediately after Russian imperialism invaded Ukraine, the reactionary Turkish regime intensified its military attacks on Rojava. On February 27, 2022, the Turkish military bombed the villages of Til Şenan, Um El-Xêr and Deşîşe and carried out drone attacks in the Tel Rifat area.
The German imperialists support the Turkish murderous attacks by supplying arms. This includes the annual arms exports in the millions for the Turkish state. For example, the sensor heads of the drones used by the Turkish army are produced by the German company Hensoldt. The German state has shares in this company worth millions. Leopard 2 tanks as well as Heckler & Koch pistols and rifles have also long been part of the armament of the Turkish military. The criminalization and oppression of the progressive Kurdish population in Germany is also a direct support of the Turkish reactionary regime in the fight against Kurdish democratic and revolutionary forces.
In the past few weeks, rallies and demonstrations against the Turkish aggression against Rojava (northern Syria) have taken place in various cities in Germany and other countries.
Let's strengthen solidarity with the democratic-revolutionary forces in Iraq and Syria!