URFA - Journalist Zeynep Boran stated that Russia gave permission to attack Kobanê in return for the relocation of HTS to Afrin and pointed out that Turkey would not get the desired result in a possible ground attack.
After the explosion on Istiklal Street in Taksim, where there were strong indications of the involvement of paramilitary forces such as the Free Syrian Army (FSA), Turkey targeted the cities of Northern and Eastern Syria and carried out air strikes. President of the AKP, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in his statements afterwards, said that an attack will also be launched from the land in the region. While statements of concern were made from international powers such as the USA and Russia, the Autonomous Administration gave a message of "resistance" against the attacks. Journalist Zeynep Boran, who closely follows the developments in the region, answered our questions about the Taksim attack and the developments that followed.
The statements of the perpetrators and the links that were revealed later point out that the Taksim attack was carried out by paramilitary forces such as the FSA. What is the FSA's relations with Turkey?
The AKP-MHP coalition did not hesitate to sacrifice the people to its hollow Ottoman dreams in the Taksim explosion, as we have witnessed many times before, in order to prolong its life a little longer. Undoubtedly, it is possible to base this concept of attacks on the National Security Council (MGK) meeting held on May 26, or even the Tehran Summit. Extending the circle of the 'Dirty Alliance' with the Tehran Summit, Erdoğan once again started to voice the invasion threats against Rojava after the MGK meeting. Then it started targeting the civilian population along the border line with drones. These attacks were not enough for Erdogan, who tried to revive himself through Kurdish blood. He is aware that he cannot liquidate the existing revolution in Rojava by killing and slaughtering. The mentality that said "I will send three men to Syria, I will fire eight missiles at Turkey, I will create a pretext for war" in 2014 came back into play and again carried out the Taksim attack by the gangs under their command.
Ahlam El Beşir, one of the perpetrators of the Taksim attack, said that, contrary to the statements made by Süleyman Soylu, her older brother was a senior commander of the FSA. Everyone knows that the Free Syrian Army (FSA) gangs, consisting of the left overs of ISIS, acted under the (National Intelligence Agency) MIT's directives. The FSA gangs that they settled in the region with the 2018 Afrin, 2019 Serêkaniyê and Girê Spî occupations continue to inflict all kinds of inhuman treatment, such as plundering, theft, kidnapping and torture, against the people of the region. The Turkish state, which is exposed in the international arena, is no longer able to control the gangs under its control. Although it has intervened and held meetings dozens of times in the last 2 years with the MIT directives, its reflection on the ground has been different each time.
While everything indicates to FSA as the perpetrator, Turkey is persistently trying to attribute the attack to the PYD and YPG. Again, despite all this, attacks against Northern and Eastern Syria were allowed. Why?
Immediately after the attack, Minister of Interior Süleyman Soylu said, “Within the framework of our findings, the PKK/PYD terrorist organization did it. The instruction came from Kobani… The perpetrator passed through Afrin.". PKK, PYD and Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) denied these allegations. The Foreign Relations Department of Northern and Eastern Syria Autonomous Administration also said that Ahlam al-Bashir was not registered in their region and called for the establishment of an impartial investigative commission to reveal the facts and present them to Turkey and the international public. Again, in an interview with SDF Commander Mazloum Ebdi to Al Monitor, Ebdi stated that the three brothers of the woman who planted the bomb died fighting for ISIS.
Against the threats of operation against Rojava and the massacre against the civilian population, the USA and Russia played the ostrich and watched silently. The US and Russia, who were content with statements such as "we are worried and we are following", as in the invasions of Afrin, Serêkaniyê and Girê Spî, took the same stance against the Turkish state's attacks on Rojava and the Autonomous Administration in particular in Kobanê. US State Department Spokesperson Ned Price said that the US continues to oppose any military action that would destabilize the situation in Syria. Russian President Vladimir Putin's Special Envoy for Reconciliation in Syria, Alexander Lavrentiev, said, "We call on our Turkish partners to be restrained not only to allow tensions to escalate in Syria's northern and northeastern regions, but also in all lands." Trying to get away with habitiual statements, the USA and Russia have always been working for their own interests, as they have been from history to the present. Permission to attack Rojava was requested from Russia in return for Turkey's role in the distribution of grain accumulated in Ukrainian ports to European and world countries.
After the Astana talks, the Turkish state and Russia decided to make the HTS mercenaries dominate in Idlib, Afrin and Jarablus. Likewise, according to the information I obtained from reliable sources, the MIT held a secret meeting with the FSA ringleaders in Afrin last month. After the meeting, HTS started to be deployed to Afrin by MIT with the support of Russia. In return for the acceptance of this situation by the FSA gang groups, Russia gave permission to the Turkish state to attack Kobanê. The USA, which acts on the basis of interests in the Middle East, has been in an attitude that can sacrifice the Kurds with whom it has been allied in Rojava until now.
It was announced that ground attacks would be launched in parallel with the air strikes. Can this actually happen?
On the night of November 19 to November 20, the Turkish state bombed many cities and areas with 58 warplanes, from Shehba to Asos on the Eastern Kurdistan border, which entered both the International Coalition and Russian-controlled airspace after a long break. The most intense attacks took place on the Kobanê, Manbij and Shehba lines. The attacks continue to spread to the entire border line and to a depth of 30 kilometers. As the attacks continued uninterrupted, Erdoğan started to give the signals of ground attack. They wanted to lay the groundwork for the land attack with the mortars that fell on the Kocatepe Primary School, which they said had civilians inside have died. But the school was evacuated earlier, and turned into a military base. Since the school was close to the border, it had been turned into an intelligence information gathering center where FSA gangs and MIT worked in coordination. Just as the attacks against Rojava were started with the Taksim attack, it is not far from the possibility that the mortar fired at the school in Karkamış will serve as a reason for the ground operation.
HTS groups were relocated in Afrin within an agreement. Then they retreated. What is the purpose of these moves here?
Simultaneously with the invasion threats against Rojava, all gang groups took action in regions such as Afrin, Marê, Ezaz and Al Bab. The wick of the uprisings in the occupied areas was ignited when the MİT demanded that the Ceys al-Islam gangs hand over the armored vehicles and heavy weapons in their hands to the HTS gangs and leave the points in the center of Afrin to the HTS gangs. With the intervention of MIT, HTS was symbolically withdrawn from the areas it entered.Then the HTS gangs began to settle in Afrin and its countryside, step by step, under the disguise of gang groups such as Ahrar al-Sham and the Samarkan Brigade and Sultan Murat Brigade, which have strong dominance in the region. If we consider the regions it has recently positioned; While the activity continues in the regions occupied by the Turkish state, HTS gangs continue to settle in many areas with different disguises. According to the information we obtained from regional sources, in the first week of November, HTS mercenaries and 7 military vehicles belonging to Ehrar Al-Sham, which are stated to contain HTS mercenaries, crossed over to the village of El Wan in Al Bab. Simultaneously, HTS gangs began to settle in the town of Mabeta and its villages under the disguise of the Sultan Murad gang group. Again, at the end of October, at the beginning of November, 30 gangs from the Al-Zûber Bin brigade affiliated with the HTS gangs settled in the spots in Mabata and the surrounding villages, wearing military clothes belonging to the Sultan Murat gang group.
If Turkey increases its attacks, what kind of resistance will it face? Will there be a result like Afrin, Serekaniye or Grê Spî?
Northern and Eastern Syrian society, especially the Kurds, have seen the true face and aims of the Turkish state. The resistance against the occupation attacks has unmasked Turkey's Syria policies. The people, who have been making preparations for a long time on the axis of the Revolutionary People's War, have the resistance to respond to all kinds of attacks of the Turkish state. There is a public reality that is aware of the offensive operation that the Turkish state aimed to launch months ago. As in the last statement of SDF Commander Mazloum Ebdi, this time the Turkish state's attacks will not end like Afrin, Serêkaniye and Girê Spî. On the contrary, the war will spread along the entire border line. In addition, Ebdi stated that he believes in his own power and the power of the people, and that military preparations against attacks have been completed.
How do you evaluate the silence in the face of the attacks against Kobanê, which is identified with the resistance?
Kobanê, which made its name known to the whole world with its humanitarian struggle against ISIS barbarism in 2014, was once again targeted by the Turkish state, the patron of ISIS. Despite this, the world states, which prioritize their relations of interest with the Turkish state, continue to play the ostrich against the genocidal attacks against the Kurds. It is certainly not a coincidence that the places where the attacks were most intense are Kobanê and Miştenur Hill in particular. On this hill, where ISIS took the biggest blow, the Turkish state bombed it with fighter jets as if announcing that it had avenged ISIS, and completely destroyed the newly built hospital for the treatment of corona patients. At this time, the attacks of the Turkish state against all cantons and villages of Rojava, especially Kobanê, are intensifying with each passing hour. Anyone who does not take action against these attacks of the Turkish state will go down in history as partners in the genocidal attacks against the Kurdish people and the peoples of the region in the person of Rojava.
MA / Müjdat Can