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Unravelling US media disinformation concerning Turkey, North Kurdistan and Rojava An item on National Public Radio (NPR) yesterday and reporting by The New York Times and other US media outlets over the past week have gotten more things wrong than right when talking about Turkey, North Kurdistan, Rojava and Kurds. In fact, it is rare to see "Rojava" mentioned at all in the US press and "North Kurdistan" is never designated as such. This makes the situation in the region seem unnecessarily complicated to people. Whether this is done by design, laziness or ignorance, the effect has been to enable disengagement across the political spectrum in the US. The NPR report is alarming because the person being interviewed, Joshua Landis of the University of Oklahoma, seems to be saying that with the liberation of Girê Spî/Tel Abyad on June 15 the US will put some distance in policy between its interests and those of the Kurds in order to satisfy Turkish and Syrian opposition demands and because it holds to the mistaken line that Kurds are attempting to create an independent state. The first assertion may be true enough; we have never considered the US and the other imperialist powers to be true friends of the Kurds and other peoples in the region, but the US-led anti-ISIS coalition has been helpful to a point in its tactics where Rojava and Sinjar/Şengal are concerned. A withdrawal of any support at this point in response to Turkish and Syrian opposition demands would negatively affect Rojava's advanced revolution and would give President Erdoğan in Turkey and the Syrian regime the openings they are looking for. The US should instead be supporting the Kurdish peace bid in Turkey, coordinating with the liberation movement in attacks against ISIS, supporting or forcing an end to the embargo against Rojava and working with other outside forces to get urgently needed aid to Kobani. The second assertion---that Kurds are attempting to carve out an independent and centralized state---takes the line of Masoud Barzani and his administration in the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG, or so-called "Iraqi Kurdistan"). Barzani and his Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) might well want a centralized state in order to consolidate and extend their power, but the question of a state or democratic confederalism or some other arrangement should be left up to a fully representative national Kurdish congress. In the meantime, the liberation movement is creating something much more revolutionary and pragmatic in Rojava and is trying to move a peace or resolution process forward in Turkey over reactionary objections. The US media is being used, willingly or unknowingly, by one side and making it much more difficult to understand what is going on in the region and take the right side. The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and other media make matters worse by confusing Rojava's Democratic Union Party (PYD) and Rojava's People's Defense Forces (YPG) an never mention the Women's Defense Forces (YPJ), obscuring important details of Rojava's revolution. And they continue to mistakenly say that the PYD is "an offshoot" of the Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK) and only remind readers that the PKK is officially designated as a "terrorist organization" by the US, the EU and Turkey. While distorting the context in which these separate organizations work, the US media is discounting the women's revolution underway in the region and neglecting to say that the PKK has become more of a social system than a party and that the US needs the liberation movement as an ally in the fight against ISIS at present. To abandon the liberation movement would be to change course and either abandon the fight against ISIS or to radically change the quality of that struggle. We continue to argue that an ant-fascist front is in place against ISIS and that this front or coalition needs to be deepened and expanded. We can counter the NPR reports and similar confusing reports in part with an excellent article that appeared on ROAR on June 17. Besides setting forward the situation in Girê Spî/Tel Abyad at a particularly important moment and not mixing up the forces involved, the strength of this article is that it avoids an emerging narrative in the press that either tries to separate the "Kurdish national movement" from the left and political processes at work in Turkey, Iraq and Syria or so intertwines them that US readers will be quite confused. Today we want to do a quick overview of the situation since Girê Spî/Tel Abyad was liberated on June 15 and pick up some of the stories that we're not seeing in US media. We can start with repeating the news that Rojava's People's/Women's Defense Forces (YPG/YPJ), Liwa Al-Tahrir fighters affiliated to the Free Syrian Army (FSA), Burkan Al-Fırat forces and the Civilians’ Defense Forces (Hezên Parastına Ciwakê, HPC) of Rojava's Cizîr Canton cooperated to liberate Girê Spî/Tel Abyad from ISIS. Besides the liberation of the area and the defeat for ISIS, there were six important features of the struggle that the US media did not cover in depth. First, we must recall that the operation to take Girê Spî/Tel Abyad back from ISIS is part of an on-going "Commander Rubar Qamişlo Initiative" carried forward by the liberation movement that began on May 6. This operation involves men and women fighters, Kurds and other nationalities and internationalist fighters who come from the left and it is continuing with great success. Second, we must remember that the fighting around Girê Spî/Tel Abyad created an additional refugee crisis and that ISIS and the Turkish state have sought to take advantage of this with some success. Turkish authorities opportunistically used the crisis to argue for the creation of a "safety zone" that would be a large-scale land grab and provoke a hot war with people loyal to Rojava, the Syrian regime and others. They also manipulated the situation at the border crossing to their benefit as people suffered in the intense heat as fighting in Girê Spî/Tel Abyad took place. For their part, ISIS infiltrated the refugee crowds, attempted to use some people as human shields and sent fighters into Turkey. Third, we must remember that women fought in the struggle to retake Girê Spî/Tel Abyad as part of the revolution and that the YPJ forces have since kept up the fight and have extended aid to the newly liberated areas. Fourth, we must remember that the liberation of Girê Spî/Tel Abyad has created the possibilities for Rojava's Cizîre and Kobani cantons to become contiguous and for the liberation movement to push south to Raqqa against ISIS. Fifth, the liberation movement has had to contend with efforts of the Syrian regime to sidetrack the struggle through serious confrontations in Qamishlo. Finally, we must remember that US-led coalition air strikes were important to the outcome of the fighting, that the liberation movement was able to take the Akçakale border crossing and that Turkey's President Erdoğan was immediately forced on the defensive as these events took place. Moving on from here, the liberation movement as quick to consolidate their victory at Girê Spî/Tel Abyad by pushing their Commander Rubar Qamişlo Initiative forward. In order to highlight the differences or contradictions which appeared in full force after the liberation of Girê Spî/Tel Abyad, we can mention again that the PKK was quick to note that the status quo in the region had changed as the Turkish military kept up pressure on the guerrilla movements. The Turkish government made a decision against seeking peace; this was clear by June 17. PYD Co-President Saleh Muslim correctly pointed out at that point that the victory in Girê Spî/Tel Abyad had cut ISIS's lifeline. It did not help the overall situation that for some time reactionary Islamist forces were charging that the YPG/YPJ were engaging in ethnic cleansing---false charges which were used to divide people in the region---and that this line was taken up by Erdoğan and began to appear in the west from some liberal groups as well. Saleh Muslim and others were forced to defend the YPG/YPJ record, but even today Rudaw TV, which we view as a front for Barzani, is spreading such disinformation and following the Turkish state line and this has served to take attention away from Turkish pressure on the guerrilla forces and the fact that some ISIS forces have crossed into Turkey. The liberation movement continued to press forward with some help from the US-led coalition bombings and the women's fighting forces took on special responsibilities. Mindful of the rapidly changing political conditions and the need to reopen the peace or resolution process, the People's Democratic Party (HDP) used the momentum they have gained since Turkey's June 7 elections sent them to Parliament to demand that concrete steps be taken to begin peace talks in Turkey. The Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK) might indeed be willing to lay down weapons if imprisoned Kurdish freedom movement leader Abdullah Öcalan could be consulted by an HDP-led delegation, but the Turkish government continued to block this effort. Meanwhile, the final results from the June 7 elections were announced and the HDP has 80 seats in Parliament, the same number as the fascist Nationalist Movement Party. Efforts to form a sitting government are not succeeding. A leader of the Republican People's Party put forward the commonsense idea that a government could form without the ruling reactionary Justice and Development Party, Erdoğan's party, but all other parties, including the HDP, rejected this. By the 18th or 19th it was clear how much depends on the formation of a government and how important it is to build into that government a real desire for peace and justice. Late in the week the liberation movement began to present a picture or an idea of how liberated Girê Spî might look. Leadership from Rojava's Kobanê Canton, including Democratic Society Movement (TEV DEM) leaders, visited Girê Spî and Kobanê Executive Assembly President Enwer Muslim said, "All peoples will live together and in fraternity in this town. As the Administration of Democratic Autonomy, we will be working with all our strength and possibilities to make sure that the people of Girê Spî can lead a life in peace and safety. We will enable them to establish their own assemblies and institutions." He also said, "This resolution project (democratic autonomy--ed.) of our Democratic Autonomous Administration involves no threats or dangers for anyone because it is grounded on the protection and assurance of the democratic and free life and equal rights of all peoples. On the basis of this historic resolution project and the building of a democratic and free life, we once again congratulate the liberation of Girê Spî and the historic victory achieved in the region. We declare that this will be a new step and a beginning in the construction of a democratic Syria." On the one hand, at this point the liberation movement could claim that refugees were returning to Girê Spî and that something like normalcy seemed to be returning to people's lives. On the other hand, the problem of ISIS land mines is preventing people from returning and resuming normal lives and is hampering the progress of the liberation movement. The Human Rights Association (İHD) has also shown how the refugees have been mistreated and used by the Turkish state and that there are more than 150 YPG and PYD members or Kobanê residents currently imprisoned in Turkey and that these people are facing particularly tough conditions in prison. Stories of ISIS infiltration are spreading and the role of the Asayish (security forces) will have to intensify. This has been underscored by an ISIS attack on an Asayiş patrol unit which killed one Arab Asayiş member in Çilaxaa this weekend. The Turkish government has meanwhile kept up pressure on the guerrillas and are refusing to hand over the body of HPG (Hêzên Parastina Gel--People's Defense Forces) guerrilla Maxzume Muhammedzade (Sarya Onur), who lost her life in the Eruh district of Siirt in a military operation on June 14, and continues to pressure the legal progressive opposition as Peoples' Democratic Congress (HDK) co-chair Sebahat Tuncel is once more facing repression. Even with all of this taking place over just one week, the HPG guerrilla forces were able to carry out a targeted attack on ISIS gangs in Sinjar/Shengal yesterday, the YPG has reported that their advance is continuing to the south of Girê Spî and Silûk and that 7 more villages have been liberated in the area over this weekend and strong efforts are being made to win over Arab leaders in Rojava's Cizîrê Canton. Throughout this period as well guerrillas of the East Kurdistan Defense Units (YRK in Rojhelat, or so-called "Iranian Kurdistan") took armed struggle action against the Iranian regime and the Free Life Party of Kurdistan (PJAK) was able to articulate a developed revolutionary program which gives lie to the forces rushing to say that the Kurdish goal is a national and centralized state. We hurry to point out that the PJAK declaration states very clearly what the relationship between the Kurdish struggle and the left should be.