STRUGGLES

Washing lines are hung up and clothes are dried amongst the wrecked houses as people
continue their daily lives.
The siege of Rojava
So why is Kobanê still in ruins one year on? Unsurprisingly, the US, whose bombs caused the
majority ofdestruction in Kobanê, has not provided any support for the reconstruction. This
is a mixed blessing, as US reconstruction efforts are aimed at creating markets for US
companies and generating allies for US foreign policy. But it leaves a vacuum which
grassroots solidarity movements need to fill.
Yet the main reason is because ofthe closures ofthe borders ofRojava, amounting to a siege,
imposed by the governments ofneighbouring Turkey and Iraqi Kurdistan. This has had a
hugely negative impact, as Dostar tells us:
the struggle against daesh
"The border is extremely important for humanitarian aid. It affects health,
education and all other areas. Turkey is following its own self-interests. One of
their aims is for us to be completely dependent on them. For two months now there
has been an absolute embargo and for one month there has even been no cement
allowed through. This is a big problem as winter is coming. We urgently need a
humanitarian corridor opened."
This seems unlikely, however, unless pressure can be brought to bear against the Turkish
government. Turkey's ruling Justice and Development party is currently engaged in a war
with the Kurds in Bakur. People in Bakur are demanding the same autonomy that has been
won in Rojava. Since summer 2015 Kurdish towns have been barricaded by locals, who have
armed themselves against attacks by the Turkish police and army. People are organising
themselves into confederations ofvillage, neighbourhood and town assemblies, following the
model ofdemocratic confederalism, the ideology based on the ideas ofKurdistan Worker’s
Party (PKK) founder Abdullah Öcalan, which has also inspired the revolution in Rojava. The
state has responded by attacking residential areas with tanks, mortars and helicopters.
Since the revolution, the Rojava-based YPJ and YPG have been supported by fighters from the
PKK, which is currently fighting the Turkish army and is considered a terrorist group by the
Turkish government, the European Union and the US.
Regarding Rojava, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has stated that he will never allow
the formation ofa Kurdish state "on our southern border in the north ofSyria." Erdoğan has
repeatedly threatened military intervention in Rojava and his government has been accused
ofarming Daesh, and allowing its fighters to cross into Syria from Turkey.
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