What is happening in Rojava and Aleppo are not disconnected crises of the Middle East; they are the same political mind, the same forms of domination and the same policies of denial brought to different stages. While maps are being redrawn and the balance of power is constantly shifting, one thing remains constant: It is the Kurdish people and the working, poor and voiceless peoples of this geography who pay the price. The policies carried out by states under the rhetoric of “security”, “survival” and “stability” have once again put the Kurds' right to life, political will and future on the bargaining table.
Rojava is not only a part of the Syrian civil war; it is one of the most concrete political and social experiences that the Kurdish people have developed against a century-long history of statelessness. The quest for local self-government, the claim for an egalitarian and multi-identity life, the new social relations established under the leadership of women; despite all its shortcomings, it is the expression of the Kurdish will for self-determination. However, this will is being systematically targeted amidst the historical anti-Kurdish sentiments of regional states and the interest calculations of global powers. Every step taken in Rojava is measured by Ankara's security doctrines, Moscow's bargaining tables and Washington's temporary alliances, rather than the needs of the people.
For the Kurdish people, Aleppo is the name of not only destruction but also political isolation. While years of sieges, bombardments and forced migrations have turned the city into a wreck, the Kurds have been trapped between both the regimes and the opposition and gangster contra forces. The events in Aleppo have clearly shown that war is waged not only with weapons, but also with ignorance and silence. When it comes to Kurdish lives, the international community has either remained silent or has only looked at the issue from the perspective of geopolitical interests.
The main line connecting Rojava and Aleppo is the systematic exclusion of the Kurdish people from being political subjects. When security justifications, definitions of terrorism and calculations of sphere of influence are prioritized over the equality, freedom and the right to coexistence of peoples, what emerges is not peace, but a state of perpetual crisis. In the Kurdish geography, each new military intervention, each new alliance, instead of producing a solution, prepares the ground for new destructions.
From Turkey's perspective, the picture is no different. For years, developments across the border have been treated as an extension of domestic politics, and the Kurdish issue has been reduced to a mere security issue rather than a democratic and political problem. However, just as the destruction of Aleppo did not stabilize Syria, each new attack on Rojava does not bring security to Turkey. On the contrary, the lack of a solution deepens and violence becomes permanent.
Today, every bomb that falls in Rojava, every building that collapses in Aleppo, every Kurd who is killed, once again shouts the most fundamental truth of the Middle East: No political equation that ignores the Kurdish people and suppresses their will can be permanent. Military superiority is temporary; borders can be protected by force, cities can be occupied. But without justice, freedom, political representation and equal citizenship, neither peace nor stability is possible. When this reality is ignored, those who appear to be winners today cannot escape being losers tomorrow.
The fundamental question to ask when talking about Rojava and Aleppo is this: When will the Kurds cease to be a bargaining chip for the great powers? When will a city be seen as a living, resisting and demanding society, not just a strategic position? As long as these questions remain unanswered, the fire burning in the Kurdish geography will continue to engulf not only the Kurds, but sooner or later the entire region. Because every order built on denial eventually reproduces its own crisis.