James Gelvin: Turkish attack on Syria endangers a remarkable democratic experiment by the Kurds
Turkey’s attack on Kurdish-run territory in northern Syria will likely snuff out a radical experiment in self-government that is unlike anything I have seen in more than 30 years studying the Middle East.
In a surprise Oct. 6 statement, President Donald Trump announced the U.S. would withdraw its troops from northern Syria. Approximately 1,000 American soldiers had been stationed in that region as a buffer separating Kurdish forces – who had been working with the Americans in the fight against the Islamic State – from Turkish troops. Turkey feared that the Syrian Kurds would link up with Turkey’s Kurdish minority who have demanded autonomy or independence.
On Oct. 9, the Turkish military began its assault, pummeling Kurdish-held territory with artillery and airstrikes. Kurds are rapidly evacuating the region and at least 24 people have been killed in northern Syria. Retaliatory strikes from Syria have killed civilians in southern Turkey. According to Turkish president Recep Erdogan, Turkey’s goal is to create a buffer zone separating Syria’s Kurds from the Turkish border. But his country’s attack will do much more than that. If successful, it will destroy the most full-fledged democracy the Middle East has yet to see.
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In a surprise Oct. 6 statement, President Donald Trump announced the U.S. would withdraw its troops from northern Syria. Approximately 1,000 American soldiers had been stationed in that region as a buffer separating Kurdish forces – who had been working with the Americans in the fight against the Islamic State – from Turkish troops. Turkey feared that the Syrian Kurds would link up with Turkey’s Kurdish minority who have demanded autonomy or independence.
On Oct. 9, the Turkish military began its assault, pummeling Kurdish-held territory with artillery and airstrikes. Kurds are rapidly evacuating the region and at least 24 people have been killed in northern Syria. Retaliatory strikes from Syria have killed civilians in southern Turkey. According to Turkish president Recep Erdogan, Turkey’s goal is to create a buffer zone separating Syria’s Kurds from the Turkish border. But his country’s attack will do much more than that. If successful, it will destroy the most full-fledged democracy the Middle East has yet to see.
The Kurds call their
autonomous region in Syria Rojava, meaning “the land where the sun sets.”
Kurdish-led forces
took possession of this swath
of territory in northern and eastern Syria from direct
Syrian government control in 2012. Then they successfully defended it
against the Islamic State.
Kurdish Syria is a
small portion of a territory, known as Kurdistan, that includes parts of
Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran. Kurdistan is home to approximately 25-35
million Kurds, a cultural and ethnic minority in the Middle East. The key to
understanding the Rojava project, as those involved often refer to it, is the
notion of “confederalism.”
In this form of government, local units – in this case, Kurdistan’s “autonomous
regions” – come together in a federation yet retain a great deal of autonomy. Because sovereign
power belongs to the local units and not to a central government,
Kurdish
confederalism differs from an American-style federal system.
The Kurds are so
serious about devolving power to the local level that Rojava’s
charter requires each of its three regions to have its own flag. And
within each region, local elected councils are in charge. They organize garbage
collection, adjudicate disputes and manage public health and safety. Confederalism sets the
Kurds apart from almost every other government in the Middle East. Across the region,
power is concentrated
at the top. Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad, is an authoritarian leader
who has ruthlessly crushed his opponents in the country’s eight-year
civil war. Egypt has a military
government. Saudi Arabia has a king.
But Rojava would be an
exceptional society almost anywhere. Rojava’s charter
guarantees freedom of expression and assembly and equality of all religious
communities and languages. It mandates direct democracy, term limits and gender
equality. Men and women share every position in government. Kurdish women
have fought
the Islamic State in Syria as soldiers in an all-female militia. In a region where
religion and politics are often intertwined, the Kurdish state is secular.
Religious leaders cannot serve in politics. Rojava’s charter even affirms the
right of all citizens to a healthy environment.
Surrounding
countries, including
Syria, also have constitutions with eloquent endorsements of political and
human rights. In Rojava, however,
the constitution is actually
in effect. Syrian Kurds have realized the dream of the 2010-2011
pro-democracy uprisings across the Arab world....
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