Since the beginning of October, Turkey has been attacking military posts of the Kurdish militia YPG and civilian infrastructure in northeast Syria almost daily. It’s a war of attrition.
Michael Wilk usually only has medication and his doctor’s bag with him when he travels to the Syrian region of Rojava as an emergency doctor to treat the injured. But this time the German doctor also drove with a donation in his luggage to the autonomously administered area in northeastern Syria, where the IS terrorist militia used to rule. His goal: to hand over the donation to the war-torn city of Kobane as part of the city partnership with Berlin Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg.
The mayor of Kobane, Rawsan Abdi, and the doctor Michael Wilk. Turkey repeatedly bombards the city’s town hall indiscriminately, said Wilk.
The Kobane city administration building is located just a few meters from the border with Turkey. During the small ceremony to hand over the donation, Wilk noticed a hole in the wall. Co-Mayor Rawsan Abdi then led Wilk into the hallway.
“There I saw 20 bullet holes on the wall that faced the Turkish border. I learned that the town hall is repeatedly and randomly shot at by Turkish border guards with heavy machine guns. The employees are exposed to the impact of the bullets.”
Michael Wilk on the rubble of a hospital in northern Syria. Turkey has been attacking the region almost daily since the beginning of October.
Almost daily attacks
Since the beginning of October, Turkey has been attacking military posts of the Kurdish militia YPG, as well as civilian infrastructure in northeastern Syria, almost daily with the help of drones, howitzers and fighter aircraft. The targets include waterworks, oil refineries, substations and two empty hospitals.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan justifies the new offensive with the right to self-defense after the attack in Ankara on October 1st. Two terrorists from the banned Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK) tried to break into the Interior Ministry.
The Rojava region in northeastern Syria is controlled by the PKK-affiliated Kurdish militia YPG and is therefore classified by Turkey as a terrorist organization area. Turkey expert Salim Cevik from the Science and Politics Foundation criticizes Erdogan’s actions. “Regardless of whether the attacks in Ankara are actually linked to Syria, Turkey’s attacks against the Kurdish YPG in response are not appropriate.”
Enemy of Turkey, partner of the USA
Erdogan has been carrying out attacks on the entire north of Syria that violate international law for years. Turkish troops invaded the multi-ethnic Afrin region in 2018. Today it is dominated by conservative Islamic forces close to Erdogan.
Further east, in Rojava, there has been a low-intensity war of attrition ever since, explains Michael Wilk. “It is everyday terror with the special feature that this terror comes from a NATO state.”
For the USA, on the other hand, the self-government in Rojava and the Kurdish militia YPG are a partner in the fight against IS. As an important pillar of the international alliance against the Islamists, they are still fighting against terrorist cells that are still active in the region.
Self-government with democratic principles
Over the course of the war, the people of northeastern Syria have established self-government with democratic principles. Gender equality, religious freedom and the ban on the death penalty play a central role here. Wilk sees an ideological difference here from conservative governments such as the autocratic Erdogan regime in Turkey, where opposition members are in prison and the work of the press is restricted.
The attacks by Turkey have now placed an extreme psychological burden on the people of Rojava, according to Syria expert Thomas Schmidinger from the University of Vienna. “People are thinking about fleeing because they can’t stand being constantly threatened by Turkish drones and having to live with the constant danger of being expelled from their own homeland.”
Michael Wilk describes the situation of the people as follows: “When someone drives his tractor across the field, grenades or bombs fall. Anyone who cultivates their field does so at the risk of their life.” As a result, the border region is depopulated in some parts and entire towns are empty.
No reaction from the West
“There is a double standard in Europe when, on the one hand, people court Erdogan and shake hands with him, even though he attacks, terrorizes people and drives thousands to flee,” says Wilk. “When he comes to Germany soon, bloody hands will be shaken when this man is welcomed.”
Thomas Schmidinger sees Europe as incapable of acting in foreign policy. Not only a possible refugee pact but also Turkey’s mediating position in the war against Ukraine would give Erdogan the political leeway for his policy in northern Syria. “The Kurds in the region know very well that they cannot rely on their allies.”
Criticism from the West was largely absent. The US troops stationed on site make a ground offensive by Turkey seem unlikely, according to Turkey expert Cevik. However, Erdogan could maintain the intensity of the current attacks indefinitely. Many local people feel left alone internationally.
Opportunity for IS?
For Wilk it is a depressing situation: “After the northern Syrians played a key role in destroying IS, the West should actually be obliged to provide massive civilian reconstruction aid there. That would also help ensure that people do not rely on the “Escape. But the opposite is the case.”
One consequence of this conflict is the rise of Islamist militias in the region. IS supporters had already taken advantage of the situation following the devastating earthquake in February to carry out more attacks. The Al-Hol camp is located in northern Syria, where around 50,000 captured IS supporters live – guarded by increasingly overwhelmed forces of the northern Syrian self-government. In the past, an uprising in Al-Hol could only be put down with the help of the US military. Further destabilization of the region could play into the hands of IS.
Goals of Türkiye
Turkey expert Cevik suspects that Erdogan wants to use his attacks to create a corridor between his own country and Kurdish territory in order to settle Syrian Arab migrants from Turkey there.
Thomas Schmidinger also sees Turkey’s fear that a functioning Kurdish autonomous region in northern Syria could also lead to stronger independence efforts among Turkish Kurds.
The doctor Wilk looks to the future with concern: “The fact that the NATO country Turkey, on the one hand, may receive millions of dollars to hold back flows of refugees and, on the other hand, contributes massively to the flow of refugees starting to move in the first place, is crazy.”
He wants to continue his involvement in the Rojava region – as an emergency doctor in Kurdish hospitals and as a bringer of donations from Germany. This is the only way to effectively combat the causes of flight.