The Kurds’ visualization and the new equilibrium

In a TV show, to which I attended with Mesut Yeğen, he gave a remarkable answer to the “What does Rojava state for the Kurds?” question:

“The Rojava incident had taken a dynamic journey in the sense of its effect over the Kurds. The mental attitude was altered for the present time. At the beginning, there was a PYD issue, which had risen in Syria and settled in that area during the authority gap. However, in time, following the ISIL attacks and Kobane’s transformation into a symbol, Rojava had become 'one of the strategic points of the Kurdish visualization'… The ISIL threat had fed the security requirement for the Kurds, and within that context, also fed the 'State pursuit' feeling for them. The common Kurdish field, where different Kurdish groups are living in and which had been spread to different countries, had become a little more activated. It had created the state of solidarity and intimacy between the Kurdish groups, who are contradicting and giving a struggle for the field supervision…”

“Kurdish visualization”, “state plan”, “pushing back some problems between different Kurdish groups and the intimacy”…

These are all striking emphases from the point of the current state fixation, and also in the sense of understanding the state of mind of the Kurds. These emphases are of vital importance, in order to understand how and why Rojava had become a part of the Resolution Process, how the Kurdish people outside of Turkey had started to surround Turkey’s Kurdish issue, and to evaluate the general outline.

It is especially important to underline these fixations from the point of the “What is Kobane, there are no people in that region, rather there is a war between organizations” approach on the issue.

In order to understand an issue, it’s paramount to comprehend the meaning given to the issue by the addressees. In order to solve those issues, it is important to produce mechanisms that take these points into consideration….

The previous day, we had talked about four understanding fields related with the Kurdish issue.

One of them was the issue of relations between the Kurds, and we had written the following sentences on this matter:

“Rojava is swiftly advancing on the way to becoming the confrontation field for the Kurdish groups. It is surrounding both the tensions and the rulership struggle between these groups, and also, the intersection points and possible partnerships. In the progress of the Kurdish issue and the peace process, it is clear that this factor had gained more importance compared to yesterday.”

Yeğen’s emphasis fills this field.

Another understanding field is being formed by the positions and existences of the third parties in this issue.

This field is being shaped over the “Rojava policies of the USA and the international coalition, the position of these policies in the struggle against ISIL, and these policies’ effects on the relations that are built and will be built with PYD”.

The international coalition and especially the USA, had been conducting a shared policy, within the frame of their own benefits, in order to prevent ISIL from winning a symbolical victory and to gain a field control that is more close to them. With this policy, they are persuading PYD for the field sharing; in other words, they are pushing them to this decision. Opening a field for KDP and other Kurdish groups at Rojava, and cooperating with the FSA (Free Syrian Army) in the direction of Turkey’s sensitivities are the new aspects of the new situation….

As for the other field, it is related with the “What will be Turkey’s new strategy within these new conditions?” question.

It is apparent that under these conditions Turkey is advancing towards the policy of supporting the PYD, which it had declared as a terrorist, in a de facto and indirect way, and disregarding their political existence and implementations. Giving a separate specific weight to Rojava within the Syria policy, surrounding the present situation and developing strategies according to that seems to be the quality needed to overcome some dead ends from the point of Turkey and the region. While the Rojava issue is settling to a new equilibrium, other problems like the negotiation issue, Öcalan’s mobility frame, political field control or the public order, are waiting to be solved inside Turkey’s borders.