What is Rojava?

The Kurdish regions of northeastern Syria are often a romanticized political project involving many wars and betrayals.

What was Rojava?

The Kurdish states in northeastern Syria have often had a romantic political project, including many wars and betrayals.

Rojava means west in the Kurdish language.It is an abbreviation of "Rojava Kurdistan", Western Kurdistan, which is the region in northeastern Syria that the Kurds have controlled independently since 2012 until a few days ago.Last week's agreement between the Syrian government and fighters from the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF, more popularly known in English) brought the area under the control of government officials.and mark the end of the "Rojava Experience".

Syrian Kurdistan is an attempt by Western countries to achieve socialist autonomy on the basis of grassroots democracy and coexist with Western countries. However, it has often been disturbed by Western countries, but it has also often fulfilled Raun Jawa's promises.

For more than 12 years, the Kurds have been at constant war: against the Islamic State (or ISIS), the regime of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, Turkey, and more recently, the new Syrian government led by President Ahmed al-Shara.At the end of Rojava, the future of the region is still uncertain: the agreements should guarantee human rights to the Kurdish minority, but they will leave their political independence in the country of Syria.

In 2012, the Kurds took advantage of the uprising that broke out in Syria against the Assad regime to conquer a large part of the territory.At first, they did so almost without a fight: the Syrian government withdrew its forces to move them to areas considered more dangerous and important.Rojava was thus born and expanded in the following years, when Kurdish militias were essential in the war against ISIS, which occupied large areas from 2013 to 2019. parts of Syria and Iraq.

The cause and the Kurdish army became famous throughout the world with the long battle against ISIS in Kobane, a city near the border with Turkey, which was recaptured by the Kurds in early 2015. The Kurds then recaptured most of the territory controlled by ISIS, with the support of the United States and the international coalition.The Kurds were the main allies of the United States in the fight against ISIS.

The establishment of Rojava was opposed by Turkey, which saw its entrenchment of independence in Syria as a threat to its Kurdish-majority regions, where autonomous and independent groups affiliated with the Syrian Kurds operate.In 2019, during the first term of Donald Trump, the US military began to withdraw from northeastern Syria, allowing Turkey to occupy the area and create a buffer zone between the Turkish and Syrian borders.It was an unexpected withdrawal, which meant US betrayal of the Kurds: before the withdrawal, the US military asked the Kurds to destroy their defensive positions in the north, which could prevent Turkish intervention.In return they promised to protect them, but this was not done.

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At the height of its expansion, Rojava occupied about one third of Syria.The territory, called the Autonomous Region of North and East Syria, is desert but includes important agricultural areas for growing corn, which is irrigated by canals from the Euphrates River, and more than 60 percent of Syria's oil fields.

Rojava's exceptional character consisted above all in the ambitious political and social model that inspired its government.The Kurds never officially wanted to create an independent state, but they wanted to guarantee themselves a broad autonomy within the Syrian state.

The project was based on the political vision of democratic federalism theorized by Abdullah Öcalan, the founder of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK): it rejected authoritarianism, militarism, interventions by the religious right or the concept of a central state.The PKK was a political and paramilitary organization that fought against the Turkish state for forty years to gain political and social autonomy for the Kurdish population in Turkey.

The Social Contract or Rojava Charter describes the region as a union of confederated popular assemblies, representing the Syrian Kurdish communities and ethnic, linguistic and religious minorities (mainly Arab and Christian).

The political system proposed by the Democratic Union Party (PYD), the main political force of the Syrian Kurds, is a basic democracy: small civil assemblies open to all, based on the communist system.These people's representatives in the federal assemblies who discuss common matters, but most of the decision-making power should rest with the local authorities.

Each government office has always been assigned to two representatives, a man and a woman with the role of co-chair: gender equality is one of the fundamental principles of Rojava, perhaps the most visible and complete.Abroad, the Women's Army (YPJ) has become a symbol of women's liberation, particularly in the context of the Middle East.

In the economic sphere, Syrian Kurdistan intends to create a socialist cooperation, but preserve the freedom of private enterprise.Other important objectives were observing the environment and ecological sustainability.

The fulfillment of this need is partial: Rojava has to deal with the economic disaster, with the constant war on its borders and with the areas of the region that have been destroyed for years by civil war, where reconstruction has been very slow.

Kurdish authorities find themselves running prisons and camps under international orders that hold Islamic State soldiers and their family members, mostly wives and children.Often they do not receive cooperation, even from the countries of origin of the foreign fighters (foreign fighters who came to Syria to support ISIS).Conditions in the camps were appalling, no inmate had a fair trial, and the population inside was radicalized.

- Also read: What are ISIS Terrorist Prison Camps in Syria

On Monday, when the Syrian government forces entered the city of al-Hasakah, a jubilant Arab community greeted the convoy: a sign of the community's widespread discontent with Kurdish rule, which is experienced in many cases as an occupation.Despite the program to include and protect the non-Kurdish minority (which is actually a numerical majority in some areas), the SDF leadership is mainly trying to win the support of tribal leaders.Many members of the Arab community have said in recent days that little or nothing has been done to improve the living conditions of ordinary people.

Relations with the Assyrians and Christians were better, but political governance from below, through popular assemblies, often appeared more theoretical than real.Critics argue that the Democratic Union Party has retained control over the most important issues and that real power has remained in the hands of a narrow leadership.Recruitment was a constant element of tension, poverty and corruption were widespread, the cooperative economy never worked (apart from a few rare noble examples) and, in general, Rojava ran a war economy, exploiting oil and agricultural resources to finance itself.

Women's liberation projects have been highly successful, but often poorly tolerated in Arab and Muslim-majority areas: In January, when government forces took control of the city of Tabqa, locals toppled a statue of a Kurdish soldier.

The innovative experiment, conducted under extreme conditions, was complicated by the progressive dismemberment of the United States.Clashes of the past weeks have greatly weakened Kurdish military capabilities: signing the agreement has been interpreted as a capitulation.