r/kurdistan 1d ago

News/Article Rojava effectively bans using PKK flags, symbols

https://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeast/syria/271220242

"Kurdish authorities in northeast Syria (Rojava) have instructed all institutions and political parties to display only emblems and banners representing the administration, a senior politician from the ruling coalition told Rudaw English on Friday. The directive effectively prohibits the use of Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) symbols and flags amid calls for the enclave to distance itself from the armed group and efforts to have a unified Kurdish front in the new Syria.  "

90 Upvotes

32 comments sorted by

67

u/BriefSkill9777 Elewi Kurd 1d ago

Let's see with what excuse Turkey/NATO will come up next for bombing AANES.

12

u/mitakay 1d ago

Agee!

u/shevy-java 22h ago

Erdogan will use any excuse really. You only have to look at the turkish ISIS boys (SNA). To me it seems as if the HTS is primarily killing Alawites and SNA's goal is to kill Kurds. I don't see how that can lead to a "unified Syria" - it is literally the opposite, a repetition of the divide-and-conquer strategy again. If I am wrong then all the better; I just do not trust ISIS mercs in general.

u/LuckyInvestment5394 1h ago

Unfortunately this was a decision to make like years ago, or even a decade ago, not now. They’ve given enough excuses already but better late than never.

56

u/Large_Ship_8821 1d ago

This was necessary for the AANES to survive.

19

u/MistWeaver80 1d ago

15

u/InfamousButterfly261 Alevi German-kurd 1d ago

„We don‘t actually care about the pkk and just wanna bomb them“

u/Hour-Ask-8045 23h ago

" Effectively" is the magic worden

In the end the flag of Kurdistan will rise over Rojava.

Qazi Nemir flag!

u/No_Transition_31 10h ago

Well, currently the flag of Syria is flying over Rojava. This was decided by the Peoples' Assembly of AANES, as it should be.

Or as Cemîl Hewramî said: respect the will of the people of Syria and Rojava Kurdistan to determine their future.

u/Hour-Ask-8045 9h ago

The only flag that should and will wave over kurdish land is the flag of the kurdish nation. Quislings like you will not change our destiny.

Her biji Kurd u Kurdistan!

Fuck Syria, Iran, Turkey and Iraq.

21

u/Chezameh2 Zaza 1d ago

Understandable but still ridiculous.

43

u/JumpingPoodles Independent Kurdistan 1d ago

They should have done this awhile ago. But at the end, I doubt it’ll help.

The PKK should either work on removing itself from terrorist lists or also rebrand itself.

To this day, I still don’t under how Al-Qaeda and ISIS can get away with rebranding themselves and still commit atrocities. But the PKK who has followed the Geneva Conventions, fights for freedom of women and language rights is still labeled as a terrorist.

Make it make sense.

17

u/InfamousButterfly261 Alevi German-kurd 1d ago

In most turks eyes the ypg is exactly that, the turkish goverment is very aware that the YPG and PKK are diffrent but they are just oblivious

u/shevy-java 22h ago

Yes, you are right - it is strange that PKK is treated as terrorist army by the West, but the ISIS boys that now rule over Syria are not called Jihadists by the media or terrorists, even when they commit atrocities (https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/27/world/middleeast/syria-alawites-assad.html). This shows that geopolitical dirty games are played again.

u/snailman89 23h ago

Al-Qaeda and ISIS pose no threat to NATO imperialism or to global capital, so they get a pass on chopping people's heads off. The PKK is a socialist group that opposes nationalism and Turkish imperialism, so any of their crimes are unforgivable.

There was a brief time when the West focused on fighting Islamic terrorists (say 2001-2016), but now Russia and the global left are the main enemies of Western governments, even though the PKK doesn't attack westerners while Islamic terrorists do.

u/shevy-java 22h ago

There was a brief time when the West focused on fighting Islamic terrorists (say 2001-2016)

Only officially. If you take another point of view, e. g. Al-Qaeda being a merc-database for jihadists, financed by Saudi Arabia etc..., and connect to geopolitical agends (overthrow in Libya, now in Syria too), then the outcome is really super-clear, including what the Jihadists are currently doing. They are committing more and more atrocities to increase the divide-and-conquer break-up. Or how Israel attacked and occupied more land, while the Jihadist in charge don't do anything about it, giving random excuses as to why they don't care.

3

u/mitakay 1d ago

A necessary evil…

u/shevy-java 22h ago

For whom? I mean, people usually don't decide that; some politician decides that.

u/shevy-java 22h ago

Agreed on the understandable part; I am not sure if it is "ridiculous". It is mostly rebranding and if that can help somehow then why not? It is really a very small thing, so even if it does not help, it does not really harm either. Those opposing Erdogan's genocidal goals won't trust him anyway and perhaps it may be a possibility for the Kurds to raise (global) awareness for their situation, without being affiliated with whatever negative image the PKK may have had, warranted or not.

10

u/psychedelicbrooks 1d ago edited 22h ago

i am an american Rojava supporter(Non-Kurd) and have YPG/YPJ/International Freedom Battalion Flags can i still use them in supporting Rojava

u/FerventEgg 59m ago

Ummmm where did you get them....also would like to know because I am making some nowas I can't find any

u/shevy-java 22h ago

Well, I guess it is rebranding mostly, which may not be a bad idea. The bigger question is not about the brand but about the goals from the base (e. g. the "general people").

u/pthurhliyeh1 Bashur 16h ago

They should have done that 10 years ago, but better late than never.

u/Acceptable-Set-4619 13h ago

Our fighters wouldn’t really care biji serok apo

u/MoeThePeaceSeeker 9h ago

These idiots gave turkey every bit of reason and motive to become the sworn enemy of western kurdistan. They should have refrained from using pkk symbols and emblems from the early days of the syrian civil war, not right now when they've become isolated and a full-scale invasion by turkey is expected by early 2025 once Trump takes power. Unfortunately, they have zero experience in diplomacy.

u/Dano757 14h ago

i think its a good move so Kerdogan wont have an excuse to attack them , however the kemalist dogs will still attack

u/Hour-Ask-8045 9h ago edited 8h ago

It is for everybody to see what a bunch of oppurtunistic, spineless, honourless people void ot principles they are. Compare these people to a man like a Qazi Muhamed. They have by now raised every flag , even the flag Al Qaida raises and sweared loyalty too, they call our land North East Syria and use the same sweet bullshit talk  about arab or turkish brotherhood like the oppressors. În the end all they want is to be temselves the Jash and our people are only the vessel.  It is that?  Giving Syria legitimacy calling our lands further North Syria thus denying us. Even giving up kurdish selfrule only to be integrated  in the security forces of a new Syria.  For me it All sound like a turkish double play game.  These people which do not dare to raise even our flag or call our land Kurdistan, following an ideology created by a man in  a turkish jail and giving always Turks excuses are considered Patriots while the ones calling our land Kurdistan and raising our flag forcing Arabs and Turks to recognize us as Kurds of Kurdistan are the traitors. It is as if the Turks realized they cannot fight us from the outside so created a cancer to destroy our movement from inside. Look only at Shingal, Arab come and kill our people and there were instantly so called Journalists  blaming a few Peshmerga in a Pick Up for being responsable totally forgetting about what Arabs did! only to claim later to represent the so called people will and later allowing arab forces to take over the region for only being payed and employed and when the Arabs retook the region they waited a couple of months and then disarmed them.

Gain nothing! Is this the destiny? Are you all blind?

u/LuckyInvestment5394 1h ago

They’re very late on this but good decision nevertheless. I’ve never understood why they did that in the first place, raising partisan flags, images and chanting slogans almost daily. It did nothing good for the region of course and only put more cards into Turkey’s hands to justify its attacks and strengthen its claims. It doesn’t take a genius to acknowledge that all those daily protests had near 0 effectivity and were against Rojava’s interests and benefits in terms of security, stability and the struggle to get an official status. At least it’s good to see that they seem to have finally woken up from unrealistic ambitions.

-14

u/Hour-Ask-8045 1d ago edited 1d ago

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

-13

u/Hour-Ask-8045 1d ago

What a bunch of spineless idiots.