Argentine writer and journalist: Kurds, Armenians must fight together against neo-Ottomanism

 Macada Tagachian is an Argentine writer and journalist.  She is the granddaughter of the third generation of Armenians in Argentina and is the author of three books: Don't Forget Me Armenohi (2016), The Armenian Spirit (2020) and Rojava (2021).  She is also active in the Armenian community in Argentina and worldwide, and works in various press and literary fields.  ANHA interviewed the Argentinian-Armenian writer about her new novel and the recent events in Rojava and Armenia.

 The Armenian Genocide and the Ethnic Cleansing of the Kurdish People

The author sees a great similarity between what happened to the Armenians in 1915 and the genocide perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire against them and what is happening now to the Kurdish people by the current representative of the Ottoman Empire (the Turkish state).  Recognizing it, like the genocide in Şengal. Erdogan is trying to bring back the time of the Sultanate by occupying the neighboring countries and attacking the Kurdish people all over Kurdistan."

 The Argentine writer considered the agreement of the peoples of the region the best way to defeat fascism, saying, "Today, the Kurds and Armenians have the same common enemy, which is Erdogan's regime, which no one can stop or oppose."

 International silence towards the Armenians genocides and ethnic cleansing of the Kurdish people

 The writer says that the Kurdish people are exposed to the same tragedy of the Armenians in 1915, and confirms that Erdogan's new policy is a continuation of the policy of the Ottoman Empire, especially against ethnic and religious components.  “The world, international institutions, human rights NGOs and the international community in general continue their silence and the same cold reaction as it was in 1915 when the Ottoman Empire killed more than a million Armenians and committed genocide. The Kurdish people face the same threat and the same fate because there is no  So far, no condemnation from international leaders, the United Nations or the international community."

The writer believes that the reason for the international silence is their political interests with the Turkish state. The Turkish lobby, which is trying to draw the world's attention.  The writer says in this context: "At the time of the Armenian Genocide, there was no international condemnation and no means of communication as now. The condemnation of the Armenian genocide came after decades later, but now we see the same crimes committed by the Turkish army continue and the ethnic cleansing that the people are subjected to in this open world on technology."

 She adds that "Turkey has good communication services and networks, as they sell the country policies in which they show Erdogan as an angel and the country as a paradise for the media and politicians alike. Their series that have spread in the world in the recent period and also through the invitations to senior journalists.  And politicians to spend holidays in the country and whitewash their crimes. The Turkish bribery policy has silenced many media and politicians. I personally received an invitation to write about their policy, but I refused. But we must not forget that many politicians and media professionals accept it, and the evidence is the arrival of a group of  the media went to the occupied city of Afrin and turned a blind eye to the crimes committed by (Turkey) there against women and civilians in general."

 'The reaction of the international community is almost non-existent'

 Makda Tagashian criticized international attitudes to the genocidal attacks carried out by the occupying Turkish state against the Kurds, "the reaction of the international community is almost non-existent. Although there are 40 million Kurds in the world, they are considered a minority in the Middle East. They have established in Rojava a threatened self-administration  Permanently, they have their army but they don't get support from anyone, the US and Russia are under pressure from the Turkish state.Armenia is a very small country trying to survive.It rarely appears in the media.That's why they (the Kurds and the Armenians) have to come together and unite and fight  That common enemy is Erdogan."

 Regarding the recent attacks by the Turkish army on the areas of Tel Tamer and the Assyrian villages, the writer says: "Erdogan follows the neo-Ottoman policy, which is a continuation of what happened in 1915. The Rojava regime is a model that must be followed, not only armed struggle but also ideological. Erdogan feels  That Rojava threatens his ideas and the neo-Ottoman project that his grandfathers started and which he is now continuing on the same path, Erdogan sees in him and the new role of women a threat to his patriarchal and radical ideas.”

 In another context, the writer tries, through Rojava, to build a bridge in Argentina in order to trace the historical relations, which were sometimes conflicting, but in recent years have become close between the Armenian and Kurdish peoples.

 YPJ, Rojava champions

 The struggle of Kurdish women in northern and eastern Syria caught the attention of the Argentinian writer.  I started reading about them in 2014, when the first news about them appeared in newspapers and international TV channels when they started the armed fight against ISIS mercenaries.

 The pictures of these armed women in military uniform in the middle of the desert with their guns raised seemed to the writer as a scene from the childhood of her ancestors and from the First World War.  After that, she decided to write about them and about the heroism they presented in order to obtain their rights and also to deter terrorism, which was threatening the world at the time.

 'I am fascinated by these Kurdish and Yazidi women'

 The Argentine writer says, “When I write about the struggle of Kurdish women in northern and eastern Syria, I feel like I am writing about the struggle that my ancestors could not do in the face of the Ottoman Empire, as they became survivors and survivors of the Armenian Genocide in 1915. I am fascinated by these Kurdish and Yazidi women and optimistic about their goals  "Revenge for their sisters who were burned alive, who were raped and sold like slaves, who killed their fathers and sisters. After writing my first two novels, I still dreamed of writing about Rojava and the Kurdish and Yazidi women's movement against ISIS, the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria and Erdogan in Turkey."

 In her novel, the writer features a young Armenian woman who goes to Rojava in search of her ancestors, but joins the ranks of the female fighters.  “I saw the need to highlight these anonymous women who are fighting against patriarchy. That system that rules the world with the aim of diminishing the role of women in society. I think that women, throughout history, have been silenced, vilified, and called witches.  About others and the many people who sacrificed themselves to eliminate the jihadists, I am also talking about the massacres against the Yazidi women.”

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 ANHA