On its 11th anniversary... July 19 Revolution -5

On July 19, 2012, the people of North and East Syria began their revolution from Kobani, by expelling the Baathist authorities and their affiliated institutions. Hasakah, Qamishlo, and Afrin followed it later, and then Manbij, Raqqa, Tabqa, and Deir ez-Zor followed in its footsteps.

It was not long before many parties hostile to the revolution and the winds of change began attacking it in various ways and forms.

From 2012 to early 2018, most of the Autonomous Administration's areas were attacked by mercenary groups affiliated with the Turkish occupation state, from Afrin in the west to Deirk in the east.

These attacks were accompanied by an economic war, which took the form of a strict Turkish siege on the Autonomous Administration areas. The occupying power closed all border crossings with Rojava shortly after its liberation from mercenary groups.

In 2014, ISIS mercenaries, with direct Turkish support, attacked Kobani canton on September 15, that is, only about 8 months after the declaration of the Autonomous Administration. This attack was the most violent since the declaration of the revolution in North and East Syria. It was intended to strike a blow in the geographic side of the Autonomous Administration and to eliminate the revolution in the place from which it began.

This attack failed and ISIS and the regional and international forces supporting it were defeated.

In 2017, a new phase of attacks began with the first air attack carried out by warplanes of the Turkish occupation army on a headquarters of the People's Protection Units YPG on April 25.

In 2018, the Turkish occupation state and its mercenaries attacked Afrin canton and occupied it after 58 days of resistance. On the anniversary of the international conspiracy against the leader Abdullah Ocalan, that is, on October 9, 2019, the Turkish occupation army and its mercenaries attacked the Girê Spî/ Tal-Abyed  canton and the Serêkaniyê/ Ras al-Ain area and occupied them after great resistance by the Syrian Democratic Forces.

The Turkish attack on Afrin in 2018 would not have happened without Russia's public complicity with the Turkish occupation state. The Turkish attack took place in conjunction with the withdrawal of the Russian forces stationed in Afrin at the time, and Russia opened the airspace to the Turkish killing machine.

Even today, Russia does not provide an opportunity to level accusations against the Autonomous Administration and brand it as "separatist".

In a scenario similar to what happened in Afrin, the US forces withdrew, by direct order from former US President Donald Trump, from Girê Spî/Tal Abyad in October 2019, paving the way for the Turkish occupation state and its mercenaries to commit massacres and occupy the two regions.

Since 2017, Turkish drones have not stopped targeting the people of North and Eastern Syria. Note that the region's airspace is monitored by the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS and supervision Russia.

Economically, the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria is subject to a fierce war, in addition to the closed crossings by the Turkish occupation state. The border crossing between Syria and Iraq was closed, and it is the only outlet that was available from abroad in 2020 with a Russian-Chinese veto.

At home, the approach of the Damascus government did not differ much from that of the forces openly hostile to the Autonomous Administration. The Damascus government does not recognize the Autonomous Administration until now, and it continuously refuses to dialogue with it, in addition to imposing a strict siege on Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafieh in Aleppo and the al-Shahba canton.

In the same context, the Kurdistan Democratic Party is still using the Semalka border crossing as a blackmail card against the Autonomous Administration, and it is the one who kidnapped the representative of the Autonomous Administration in Başûr for more than a hundred days.

Likewise, the Kurdish National Council, an extension of the Kurdistan Democratic Party in Rojava, does not hesitate to defame the Autonomous Administration and distort its image, in addition to its direct affiliation with the Turkish occupation state, which appeared more than once when officials in the Kurdish National Council described the areas occupied by Turkey in Syria as Liberated areas.

In addition, the Autonomous Administration is subject to attacks aimed at dismantling it from within, by spreading narcotics and prostitution among the ranks of society, and not a year goes by without the Internal Security Forces arresting dozens of drug dealers and drug users.

In these circumstances, the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria arose, which is not recognized by international powers, and the absence of official recognition of the Autonomous Administration does not mean that it has not achieved openness internally and externally.

AANES was declared in a region in Syria, in which all forms of pluralism were absent after the Nasser era( Gamal Abed al-Nasser, and centralization and the security grip were established after 1960. In the neighborhood, it is governed by centralized, nationalist regimes and monarchies that do not accept any talk of any form of decentralization and pluralism.

The Autonomous Administration was declared with support of its people, at a time when the hopes of the most optimistic people did not exceed that this administration would be able to withstand more than months, due to the multiplicity of hostile parties to it at the internal, regional and international levels.

The Autonomous Administration, which some expected to be a repeat experience for the Republic of Mahabad to fall after 11 months, left behind 11 years, and representations were opened for it in Sulaymaniyah, Southern Kurdistan, and in a number of European capitals, including Berlin.

As the first official recognition, the Catalan Parliament, on October 2021, recognized the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, and the decision stated that the Catalan Parliament recognizes the existence of the Autonomous Administration, and called on Catalan institutions to establish institutional relations with the Autonomous Administration.

In addition to this openness to the outside, representatives of the administration were received in a large number of Arab and European capitals, and perhaps France, whose former president Francois Hollande and current Emmanuel Macron received delegations from the Autonomous Administration in the presidential palace, is the most prominent example of this openness.

Also, the visits of European delegations to North and East Syria did not stop, and were visited by more than one American official and senior leaders in the Pentagon.

Inside Syria, especially in the south, the application of the Autonomous Administration model is still a requirement in As-Suwayda and Daraa.

In Libya, calls are renewed from time to time to implement the federal system in it, as Libya was previously divided into three states; Tripolitania, Cyrenaica, and Fezzan, and 32 deputies from the east of the country demanded the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aguila Saleh, in October 2022, to present the unamended 1951 constitution, for deliberation in a special session of the House of Representatives, broadcast live, in order to consider returning to the federal system.

T/ Satt.

ANHA