Interview With A Commander Of TKP-ML TIKKO Şehid Eylem Yıldız Battalion On Recent Developments In Syria
We are pleased to share with our readers an interview conducted with a commander of the Şehid Eylem Yıldız Battalion of the TKP-ML’s armed wing TIKKO. This interview was conducted anonymously and was first published on bannedthought.net in December 2024
-The Redspark Editorial Collective
“We Took Our Place on the War Fronts with the Instruction to Organize the
Revolution, Win the Future!”
We had an interview with Nergis Asya, one of the commanders of TKP-ML TIKKO Şehid Eylem Yıldız Battalion, about the developments in the region in Syria.
– Hello. Thank you for your time. Could you introduce yourself?
– Hello, my name is Nergis Asya. I am one of the commanders of the TKP-ML TIKKO Şehid
Eylem Yıldız Battalion. As you know, the process is very intense, we have time problems, so
I have to give short answers to your questions, so I apologize for that. Maybe we can talk in
more detail in the future.
– Yes, you are right, of course we would like to talk more. In recent days, it is
understood that contradictions have deepened both regionally and globally in Syria.
How do you interpret Assad’s ouster from power in such a short time in terms of local
and international balances?
– As you may have followed, our party has long made determinations that the inter-imperialist
rivalry would sharpen day by day and that this would turn into an imperialist war of division in
the coming periods. In this process leading towards a war of division, it is possible to see
many regional conflicts, governments changing hands, peoples revolting. Previously in Africa
and Southwest Asia, today we can see these in the Middle East. What is happening in Syria,
in our opinion, is that the lands that were the backyard of Russian imperialism through the
bloody Ba’athist government, are now changing hands as a market area for the US-Israel
and the Turkish Republic. In terms of the imperialist blocs, the balance is turning in favor of
the NATO imperialist powers. The new regime will be NATO’s puppet. The sphere of
influence of China, Russia and Iran has been significantly reduced in this line. Of course, the
events have not created a situation in favor of the oppressed Syrian people. One cannot talk
about the liberation of the people. On the contrary, NATO domination has been reinforced.
– At the current stage, it is a reality that the jihadist gangs left over from ISIS have
taken control of a large part of Syria. What kind of future do you think awaits Syria?
– The future of Syria cannot be considered independently from the imperialist division of
power and preparations for war. The new regime to be formed in Syria will, of course, be
backed up by the imperialists in the interests of the Syrian ruling classes, in other words,
Syria’s semi-colonial status will not change. The relationship of exploitation and dependency
will be recreated in accordance with the character of the imperialist capitalist system.
As it is known, since the civil war after 2011, the Rojava revolution and the defeat of ISIS,
there has been a serious contact between the Turkish, Kurdish and Arab peoples. With the
Rojava revolution, the common system of Kurdish, Arab, Armenian, Assyrian/Syriac peoples
was tried to be built. Turkish society has gotten to know the Syrian people more closely due
to migration. Of course, we are not ignoring the racism and chauvinism fomented here. On
the contrary, the poison of chauvinism and racism was intensively injected into Turkish
society through Syrian immigrants. Despite this, we can see that contacts between peoples
are intensifying.
What we will take as a basis is the common liberation struggle of the peoples. The
unification of the masses, who will be victimized by imperialism’s war and exploited, across
borders will create an enormous power in the whole region. In a sense, when looking at the
future of the region, we see that we need to look not only at what the rulers are doing, but
also at the concrete situation and orientations of the peoples and draw the right conclusions.
The future of Syria will not be exempt from the class struggle, on the contrary, it will be a future where this struggle will be more intense.
Because the people are largely aware that the rulers do not aim to find a solution to the
problems of poverty and hunger of the people. On the other hand, we are facing a process in
which the attacks against the gains of women in Syria will increase even more. The
reactionary-jihadist gangs have already imposed certain bans on women’s work in the
regions they have captured. Women in Syria will face more violence, massacres and bans.
In this respect, the Rojava Revolution, which is a model for women to live freely, will always
be a target that must be destroyed and will always be a danger for these gangs.
“The main intensive war was fought on the Minbiç line!”
– Parallel to the jihadist gangs’ attacks against Assad, attacks and occupations took
place in different parts of Rojava. What can you say about the current situation on the
ground?
– First of all, let me state the following: The fascist Turkish state and its gangs are waging a
psychological war, perhaps more than their military attacks. This psychological warfare is
carried out at a high level on television channels and social media channels. Frankly
speaking, we both hear and witness that the masses are also significantly affected by this
psychological warfare. There is an incredible amount of information pollution, this pollution is
of course created through the organization of the Turkish Republic and its gangs, despair,
fear and insecurity are wanted to be created. I really think that the revolutionary and patriotic
press cannot adequately reflect the resistance in the field, the sacrifices and resistance of
the people and the fighters. Sometimes there is news, “this region has fallen”. But when you
talk to friends and comrades, they say that it has not fallen, on the contrary, there is an
intense war and resistance. We were on a front, we were having a planning meeting with our
commanders. A phone call came, they said, “your front has fallen, even the city that the front
is connected to has fallen, the gangs have taken it”. What fall, we were sitting on the front
line drinking tea.
In the Jazira region, the autonomous administration basically took the places vacated by the
regime, and on the front lines, the regime soldiers abandoned their positions and fled. The
QSD forces filled the places they vacated, arsenals were confiscated. The same thing
happened in Derazor, but the QSD said it was holding those points temporarily, so the points
left by the regime were handed over to the gangs. Parallel to the attacks launched by HTS,
there have been and continue to be intense bombardments on the front lines in the Cizire
region.
The main intensive battle was fought on the Minbic line, where a really important resistance
was put up by the QSD forces. However, with the ceasefire, the QSD decided to withdraw its
forces from Minbic. In the meantime, there were very intense clashes with the SMO gangs
who tried to seize the Tishrin Dam and the Qarakozak bridge. At the last stage, with great
resistance and sacrifice, all the gangs that entered these areas were repelled and hundreds
of gangs were killed. A ceasefire was also reached through Tishrin. Discussions and
negotiations continue. There was information that the Turkish-backed SMO gangs were
making a military buildup towards Kobane, of course the Turkish state covets all the lands
under the control of the Autonomous Administration. How much the Turkish state will expand
these occupation areas depends on the resistance and will of the revolutionary forces in the
field.
– What kind of relationship do you foresee developing between the Autonomous
Administration of North East Syria and the forces that have seized power in the
coming period?
– The Autonomous Administration reiterates its call for dialog for the future of Syria. It has
declared that it wants to be included at the table to be set up in Damascus while a new Syria
is being shaped, and that it wants to take its place in the process as it does in the region.
However, here the fascist Turkish Republic, which pursues a policy hostile to the
Autonomous Administration, comes into play. It is aimed to put the Autonomous
Administration under great pressure. What is meant is the destruction of the Rojava
Revolution gains. These gains are not wanted by any local collaborative power and
imperialist state.
However, due to the intense ownership of the people and the victory over ISIS, they are
holding back from any attack on the gains of the revolution. However, precisely in this
process touted as “new”, these gains will be made a subject of discussion. The Autonomous
Administration has stated that they have no problem with the new flag. Until the discussion
process started, Minbiç was occupied and all Rojava areas were attacked and threatened.
There is a balance of forces at play here. To what extent the forces defending Rojava can
fulfill this and to what extent Rojava can be defended in the international arena, this is the
main problem. In this sense, it is very important that internationalist forces, revolutionary-
democratic forces and all Rojava people are aware of this and that we mobilize for the
revolution with all our strength.
– What role did the Turkish Republic play in this whole process?
– The fascist Turkish state has been a semi-colony of the imperialist states since the day it
was founded. The fascist Turkish Republic, which is also a member of NATO, serves an
important function as the representative of imperialist reaction in its region, just like Israel. At
the same time, since the Turkish Republic knows very well the importance of its position and
that it is a servant that the imperialists will not give up easily, it takes certain steps to take
advantage of the contradictions between imperialists. We have seen these steps in the past
years with the invasion and annexation of Serekaniye, Gire Sipi and Afrin regions. Now, it
has shown this by invading Tal Rifaat and Shahba and then Minbic with the SMO gangs it
trained and equipped in parallel with the attacks launched by HTS against the Syrian regime.
While the Turkish state is trying to strangle the Rojava Revolution with the SMO gangs on
the one hand, on the other hand, by developing relations with HTS, it continues its efforts to
prevent a possible status to be recognized for the Kurds or the autonomous administration
from taking part in the government to be established.
“We will defend the lands of the revolution watered with the blood of our immortalized
ones!”
– What position have the forces of your party taken in the face of the developments?
What are your expectations and approach regarding the main direction of
developments?
– Our party forces have been in a serious preparation for a long time, anticipating possible developments. We have organized versatile and comprehensive trainings and practices with our command and fighter structure, both ideologically and militarily. These preparations have enabled us to participate and position ourselves more qualified and stronger in the war today. At the same time, these developments took place shortly after our 2nd Congress, which our party organized and announced in mid-November. We took our Congress slogan, “Organize the revolution, win the future”, as the instruction of our party and took our places on the war fronts to win the future. We positioned our forces on the fronts in both the Euphrates and Cizire regions. I do not find it right to give the names of the areas under these conditions, but in the Euphrates region we are in direct hot clashes with the TC-SMO gangs. Our positioning in the Cizire region is also in Kurdish cities, where there are more bombings from the air and land, intense howitzer doçka attacks, but these attacks are frustrated by the correct and solid positioning of the military forces.
For 10 years, our party forces have taken part in the defense and construction of the Rojava
revolution. Until our last breath, until our last moment, we have no approach other than
fighting to defend the Rojava revolution, the gains of the revolution, especially the right of the
Kurdish nation to secede freely, and to defend this revolutionary land, every inch of which is
watered with the blood of our immortalized ones, to the end. Our approach and our
expectation is the defense of Rojava, for this there is no other way than to fight, resist and
succeed.
– What would you like to say to the revolutionary-progressive and patriotic public
opinion?
– Frankly , as far as I can follow, I don’t think that the revolutionary-progressive and patriotic
forces in Turkey and Turkish Kurdistan are sufficiently aware of the developments in Syria
and Rojava, the dangers they pose and the opportunities on the other hand. I think that there
are still weak practices in resisting the attacks against the Rojava Revolution, against the
despicable usurpation of the Kurdish nation’s right to free secession.
In 2014, during the attacks of ISIS gangs against Kobane, hundreds of thousands of people
came directly to Kobane and defended Kobane within the scope of mobilization, and people
in dozens of cities, especially in Turkish Kurdistan, defended Kobane with serhildans. In that
respect, after 10 years, there is a need for such revolutionary practical resistance again.
Because Rojava cannot be defended only from Rojava. At the same time, Turkey and T.
Kurdistan must be defended and the fascist Turkish state to overthrow the revolutionary war
must be participated in every arm from every position.
I always think that those who cannot afford to burn will get colder. Steel was able to become
steel because it burned. We are the fighters of a communist leader who claims to turn the
spark into a fire. In this context, our call to our party forces in all our fields should participate
in accordance with the instructions of our 2nd Congress, each of our comrades, each of our
fields should take one step forward.
– Thank you for your time.
– We thank you.
Source : http://bannedthought.net/Turkey/TKP-ML-OK/2024/TKP-ML%20TIKKO%20Sehid%20Eylem%20Y%C4%B1ld%C4%B1z%20Battalion.pdf