Syria is for everyone and only together with everyone… The SDF east of the Euphrates is contrary to sociology

The "liberated zone" privileges that the SDF tried to establish in Aleppo are extremely primitive fields of power that have no validity anywhere in the world. That it regards this as a right of the Kurds is, above all, an insult to the Kurds. Not only would this bring the Kurds no advantage; by confining the Kurds to two neighborhoods within a city, it would also have barred them from benefiting from the blessings of the whole city. The only winners here would have been the wardens of this prison, of this liberated zone: the SDF militants. There are countless examples in history of how fascistic a form of oppression such a structure can impose. The SDF was demanding recognition of the arbitrary existence of an armed organization independent of the central state inside the city of Aleppo.

Might as well go all the way: let the Turkmen districts of Aleppo and the Christian districts each declare their own autonomy wherever they are influential, so that, let alone the country, every city is split into ten pieces within itself, and even passing from one neighborhood to another requires a visa. The rights the SDF claimed in two neighborhoods of Aleppo served above all to shut in the Kurdish people and to establish a micro-fascistic sovereignty over them. Whatever power it drew on for the audacity to challenge the central government, the whole story ended in two days. The spider's-web rule they had established here collapsed and vanished in two days.

IT WAS NOT ALEPPO THAT WAS LIBERATED FROM THE SDF, IT WAS ONLY THE KURDS.

But just try explaining this to those of ours who are caught up in the winds of nationalism. Do the DEM people in particular, and unfortunately some conservative Kurds, who have been raging against the operation the Syrian government launched in Aleppo once the period it had granted expired, really know what they are saying and what they want? As someone who has never approved of the official policies on the Kurdish issue and has offered every kind of criticism and opposition against them, I cannot see in this the slightest interest or benefit belonging to the Kurds. What do they see? I truly wonder.

Türkiye is not the old Türkiye. Neither the conditions nor the mindset that gave birth to the Kurdish problem exist. Thanks to the approach to the issue by the AK Party and Erdoğan, rooted in an understanding that comes from Islamic belief and principles, there is no trace today in Türkiye of the conditions, the pressures and the denial that gave rise to the Kurdish problem. The Kurds were equal citizens before too, but now they are equal citizens recognized and respected with their identity and their language. In Syria too, the Kurds were subjected for a century to discrimination far worse than ours. The only period in which the Kurds enjoyed some regard was the recent period when, against Türkiye, they were first seen as a useful instrument of Assad. The mission granted to them in that period and supported by the U.S. has no ground left today. What Assad and the U.S. had in mind for the Kurds was in any case a position utterly contrary to the sociology of Syria.

THE SDF STRUCTURE EAST OF THE EUPHRATES IS CONTRARY TO SOCIOLOGY

Just as allocating liberated zones to an armed organization in Aleppo is contrary to sociology and to the realities of the city, so is handing the whole of the east of the Euphrates to the SDF's armed control extremely contrary to the sociology of the region. East of the Euphrates (in the region including Raqqa, Deir ez-Zor and Hasakah) the total presence of Kurds does not exceed 15 percent. And 75 percent of the armed elements within the SDF are made up of Arabs. That this region is currently under SDF control is not because the Kurds are sociologically strong here or because their asabiyya is very strong, but only because the U.S. has supported and assigned them here in line with Israel's strategic plans.

THE REAL STRUGGLE AGAINST DAESH WAS WAGED BY TÜRKİYE AND AL-SHARAA

We have now also moved quickly away from the environment in which that assignment took place. That assignment was based on the pretext of fighting DAESH. That DAESH itself was a joint U.S.-Israeli production, precisely as a pretext for this assignment, is by now known even to the deaf sultans. Moreover, the most effective struggle against DAESH was in any case waged by Türkiye in the first place, and by Ahmed al-Sharaa, the head of the present Syrian administration. If DAESH is to be fought from now on, this struggle too will be carried out under the command of the Syrian central government. There is no role left for the SDF here either.

In the end the SDF has no pretext left that would require its existence with armed force east of the Euphrates either. There is in any case no sociological ground that would require it to exist there as the SDF. With a population not exceeding 15 percent over an Arab population of 80 percent, only a new kind of Baath rule, repressive and bloody, dictatorial, could be established. If it aspires to that, this is not a Kurdish right but an injustice committed in the name of the Kurds. We all stood together against the injustice done to the Kurds, and we still do. No one can, or should, commit injustice against Kurds, Turks, Arabs or any people. But no people should commit injustice against the others either.

SYRIA EXISTS FOR EVERYONE AND IS BUILT ONLY TOGETHER WITH EVERYONE

After the Kurds of Ashrafieh and Sheikh Maqsoud in Syria were rescued from this SDF injustice, the messages coming from the Syrian authorities are extremely positive. There is no extremism, no intoxication of victory, no trace of anger, resentment or hostility toward the Kurds. On the contrary, there is an extremely embracing and strong invitation to brotherhood, to coexistence and to the principles of equal citizenship.

Take for example the following call by Jihad Issa al-Sheikh, Ahmed al-Sharaa's Representative for Tribes and the Eastern Region, which addresses the Kurds and the Arab tribes separately:

A CALL TO THE ARAB TRIBES EAST OF THE EUPHRATES AND TO OUR KURDISH BROTHERS

Choosing peace is life; war is a heavy responsibility...

To the sheikhs and notables of the Arab tribes east of the Euphrates, and to our Kurdish brothers, partners in the land, in history and in destiny, we call:

Today we address you neither with the language of hostility, nor with a claim of superiority, nor in the tone of a threat. On the contrary, we call out of a sincere concern and sense of responsibility for Syria, for the blood of its sons, and for its coming generations worn down for years by pain, conflict and division.

Experiences near and far have clearly shown that war produces only destruction. A weapon drawn by the momentary allure of anger cannot build a state when it is turned on the partners of the homeland.

War destroys villages before cities; it shatters the social fabric before it brings down enemies; it opens the hard-to-close doors of revenge, hatred and foreign interventions.

The new Syrian government, conscious of the national and historic responsibility it has taken on, stresses clearly and plainly the following:

Its first and fundamental choice is peace, dialogue and national partnership.

It is to build a state under the roof of the law, free of discrimination and exclusion, in which all citizens are equal.

For peace is not weakness; on the contrary, it is the highest rank of wisdom.

Peace is the only way to reconstruction, to the return of refugees, to the stability of the economy and to the protection of everyone's dignity.

To the Arab tribes east of the Euphrates:

Throughout history you have been society's safety valve, the guardians of the land and of honor, the main pillar of stability. Today your role is greater than ever: the role of reason, not of being swept along; of calm, not of escalating tension; of uniting, not of dividing.

The strong tribe is not the one that multiplies weapons; it is the one that prevents strife, protects lives and blood, and places the homeland's interest above narrow calculations.

To our Kurdish brothers:

You are an essential part of Syria. Your roots reach deep into the history of this land. Your sacrifices cannot be denied, your rights cannot be made a subject of bargaining.

The future of the Kurds in Syria lies not in clashing with their national surroundings or in pinning hopes on temporary external projects, but in sincere partnership within a single, strong and just state with all its children.

We say this clearly and with a sense of responsibility:

War is not an option desired by the new Syrian government; it does not move toward it and does not wish for it. For it knows that its price will be very heavy for everyone, without exception.

Yet at the same time the state cannot give up its duty to protect the unity and sovereignty of the country and the security of its citizens.

If war is imposed and no room is left for peace, the party that fuels it and causes it will bear fully the political, moral and historic responsibility for its consequences.

Today we stand at a clear fork in the road:

Either the path of peace, which opens the door of dialogue, lays the foundation of a new social contract and gives every component its right within the state...

Or the path of war, which has no winner, has no future, and whose memory will not even be recalled with good...

Come, let us choose life, not death; reason, not reactiveness; the homeland, not narrow projects; peace, not war.

This is not a threat; it is a message of responsibility.

This is not a warning; it is a call of hope.

This is a national message that says: "Syria exists for everyone and is built only together with everyone."