Hassan Koçer: Rojava revolution granted tremendous hope to democrats  

Hassan Koçer described the July 19^th Revolution as the intellectual system aimed at creating a free society, and viewed it as a revolution that fought both a war and a constructive process, stressing the need for the components to agree as a single solution to rid of regional chaos.

Head of the Executive Council in the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, talked in a dialogue held by ANHA’s agency, on the tenth anniversary of the start of the July 19^th revolution in Rojava, north and east Syria.

During the dialogue, Hassan Koçer spoke about the level of the revolution, the violent attacks under the coordination of the regional parties to end the democratic project, the war and the construction process simultaneously, the need for the Arab-Kurdish Agreement and other components to preserve the revolution's gains, the revolutionary war to protect the gains, and the importance of political circles defining the revolution globally; to be recognized.

Details of the dialogue read:

* How do you describe the continuity of the July 19^th Revolution, despite the violent attacks at different levels against it, what power is underpinning this revolution and what is it seeking?

first; When talking about the continuity of the revolution; Revolutions must include strategy, intellectual system and philosophy. More importantly, the sacrifices, since revolts cannot continue only by launching slogans.

In describing the revolutions of the twentieth century, it can be said that they sought to destroy one State and build another. Not all of those revolutions were able to get rid of the question of State and power and served to exclude society, leading to the total collapse of those revolutions, including constructive socialism.

If a revolution seeks continuity; First of all, it must be societal, and thus on the right track, the July 19^th Revolution was based on a new philosophical concept, which is to build a free and democratic society, not to build a new State and to destroy a State, so we have to understand the July 19^th Revolution, which is totally different from the old revolutions.

Social issues, including women's and youth's issues, have become stacked on top of each other and have become a social complex, so we must correct the concept of revolutions to continue with the revolution; the July 19^th Revolution can therefore be described as a correction of the course of all previous revolutions in the region.

* The philosopher Noam Chomsky described the continuity of the revolution in Rojava in miracle What does that mean?

It's an understandable description of the world. When a writer of this magnitude, in the Middle East, speaks in the midst of this war and this massive devastation and attacks, there is no current revolution in this form and in this integrated system, in this great chaos; So it's already a miracle.

What is the greatest threat to the revolution today, in your view, and how can it be addressed at the grass-roots, military and political levels?

The revolution is already locked in an internal and external struggle, having spent decades under a system of authoritarian mindset, and it is difficult for society to shake off that mindset. This constitutes a major obstacle to this revolution, to sensitizing and developing society politically, socially and culturally and to raising the standard of ethics among society is the main objective of this revolution and the greatest challenge, and to eliminate the authoritarian mindset; Let's get to the freedom of this society and solve all the outstanding social issues, but in applying this on the ground, mistakes emerge dramatically, the reason being that the individual still has that authoritarian mindset, which leads to deficiencies and increased popular criticism of the administration; The revolution therefore faces a major challenge in building a free mind.

On the other hand, the revolution faces continuing attacks from regional forces; first; Military attacks on north and east Syria by the Turkish state and its mercenary groups. Although the people of the region fought a war against terrorism and that war destroyed ISIS, the Turkish state - the patron of ISIS - seeks revenge against north and east Syria. This creates instability and security, thus causing the administration and society's preoccupation with this war, which creates a service weakness. In this case, more than half of the budget of north and east Syria goes to support military forces to respond to Turkish occupation attacks and to protect the region and the gains of the revolution.

July 19^th Revolution began in Kobani and today, the canton is under Turkish threats. The Turkish state seeks to eliminate the cradle of the revolution and the strategically located city of Manbij, the most important cities of north and east Syria, and to end the democratic project in the region. This can therefore be described as the greatest threat to the revolution.

second; There are other attacks carried out by persons linked to Turkey and the Syrian regime in north and east Syria, the aim of which is to create confusion, weaken the will of society and create chaos. This is followed by a stifling blockade of the region, which is a tool to displace the population and weaken their faith in the revolution. Regional regimes are fighting a special war against the people of the region in all areas; from the spread of drugs and prostitution in society, which led to moral dissolution. We consider that to be more serious than military war. The aim of regional systems is therefore to end the revolution socially, culturally, morally and politically.

The mechanism for dealing with such attacks, first; an individual must have a strong national awareness. Syrian geography in general is under occupation attacks. second; Our people must act in accordance with the revolutionary war and support their military forces, join forces and defend their land, and third; Political circles should work to define the revolution globally to be recognized.

* Do you consider that there are regionally coordinated attacks between the parties in Syria against the democratic project in north and east Syria?

The mindset of the nation-States of the Middle East is similar, so languages are different, but they are the States themselves and the Power itself; The development of the democratic project in north and east Syria would be dangerous to the regimes in Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Iran and others, so we see agreements between these regimes; to stand in the way of this democratic project so that this does not reach other regional states.

How can this revolution overcome the threats and obstacles to which it is exposed?

The arrangement of the inner house in the region is very important to counter threats and preserve the fortress from within. The Arab-Kurdish Agreement and other components are very important for preserving the gains of the revolution. Despite the presence of international and regional forces in Syria, we cannot count on them. These countries have interests in the region and work accordingly and are not charitable organizations working for this people. Our people need to be well aware of this. Unity of components is the way out of the current crisis.

* Do you think that the revolution in Rojava has turned into a regional revolution or is it still local?

The revolution in Rojava gave high hopes to Democrats around the world and I think that the revolution in its definition and what it is has also transcended regionalism and transformed into universality, everyone talks about this region, which is north and east Syria, and the revolution in the conscience of most of the world's people has come, The Middle East and West societies have come to see this revolution. But in practice the scale of attacks and the States surrounding the revolution and their policies prevent the exportation of this intellectual system, there is a difficulty, but we are working for this revolution to be the property of all humanity.

* How do the world's political circles read this revolution?

There are civil organizations and democratic, ecological and feminist political movements that have visited north and east Syria, familiarized themselves with the reality of the revolution, and are working to study all their areas. also visited political delegations from the world's countries, whose purpose was to identify the revolution closely. These circles have come up with the reality of the progress of this revolution: they are fighting a war against terrorism and the surrounding States, and they are doing a constructive process simultaneously, and I don't think any old or new revolution has worked along these lines. The writer Noam Chomsky has become more familiar with this reality when he described the revolution in Rojava as a miracle. It is meant by this ongoing process, both war and construction.

Has the media and the special war being fought by the parties to the conflict in Syria and the enemies of the revolution succeeded in obscuring the reality of the revolution?

We have to be realistic. The special war has an impact, but it has not achieved its objectives of striking the democratic project and ending this revolution, but it has an impact on propaganda, incitement and defamation of the administration, the Syrian Democratic Forces and the intellectual system in the north and east of Syria. The special war is working to provide another definition of the revolution, but I think everyone is becoming aware of the reality of this revolution and the objectives it seeks.

T/S

ANHA