Inside Rojava, a democracy now being ethnically cleansed by Turkey
In April 2019, I was lucky enough to get inside North and East Syria to film a documentary about the democratic project led by Kurdish people. I had no idea that only a few months later, Turkey would invade this part of Syria, crushing that project. The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), once a great ally of the US-led coalition in the fight against ISIS, were simply abandoned by America. As soon as US troops began to pull out, the Turkish Army, second largest in NATO, and its Islamist proxy militias invaded. Many claim that Erdogan’s operation, allegedly intended to make a ‘safe zone’ for refugees returning to Syria, is nothing more than a facade for ethnically cleansing and displacing the Kurdish people.
Hawar Derikê abo Ahmed, an SDF commander, at a comrade’s funeral in Derik. Eleven thousand SDF fighters died fighting ISIS.
Members of the YPG (People’s Protection Units) guard a demonstration in Kobane, protesting Turkey’s occupation of Afrin. Afrin, a region of northwestern Syria, was part of the new Kurdish-led democracy. In March 2018 Turkish forces and their allied jihadist mercenaries invaded Afrin and ethnically cleansed its mostly Kurdish population. Today many fear that with Turkey’s current invasion of North and East Syria, many other areas of the self-administration to share Afrin’s fate.
A woman attends a neighbourhood council meeting in western Kobane, which is discussing security issues.
In Derik, family and friends mourn the martyrdom of a member of the YPG anti terrorism unit, who was killed by an ISIS mine. The SDF were hoping that after it militarily defeated ISIS in March 2019, such funerals would come to an end. However since Turkey invaded Rojava in October, ISIS sleeper cell attacks have increased by 48 percent.
After the funeral, SDF fighters bury their comrade by hand.
Faces of North and East Syria before the Turkish invasion
Derik, a town near the Iraqi and Turkish borders, was spared the wartime horrors raging in the rest of the country. Like much of North and East Syria, it was peaceful, hosting many aid agencies and NGOs. It is now under attack by Turkey.
Members of the YPJ (Women’s Protection Units) train in a military academy near Al Hasaka. Many of these women, veterans of the 2018 war in Afrin, are now on the frontlines, fighting the NATO army of Turkey.
A martyr’s grave
A Free Syrian Army (FSA) banner. Since the beginning of the civil war, Syrian Kurdish forces have fought ISIS, Turkey, the FSA, and at times the Assad regime.
A Kurdish grandmother protects a demonstration in Kobane from security threats. She is a member of women’s section of the HPC (People’s Protection Militia), a volunteer force organized at the neighborhood level to protect each neighbourhood from ISIS sleeper cell attacks.
In the 2014-15 battle for Kobane, the YPG and the YPJ, allied with the US-led coalition, defeated ISIS. Although much of Kobane has since been rebuilt, the city deliberately preserves the scars of that war in one area as a memorial.
Workers in a street market in Kobane. Abandoned by the US, the Syrian Kurds have hastily welcomed back the Assad regime, which is both an enemy and an ally to them.
Women of Raqqa suffered under ISIS rule but were subsequently liberated by the SDF. These Raqqa women are dancing at their graduation from a women’s academy, where they spent a month studying women’s history and empowerment.