Swedish journalist Joakim Medin published a book on Kobanê resistance. Medin had witnessed the YPG and PKK guerrillas’ rescue operation for Ezidis seeking refuge in Mount Shengal and the ISIS siege on Kobanê, and was the last Western journalist to leave Kobanê.

Medin documented the Rojava Revolution, the egalitarian system constructed by Kurds, Assyrians and other ethnic minorities, and the heroic resistance of YPG and YPJ guerrillas against ISIS gangs in Kobanê in his book “Kobanê: The Kurdish Revolution and the struggle against ISIS.”

Swedish media and public showed great interest in the recently published book, which was promoted during the Stockholm Literature Days in the Culture House in the city and in the South Theater (Södra Teatern).

Medin stated that the world started to learn about the Kurds in Rojava after the ISIS attack on Kobanê in July 2014, and found out that ISIS had occupied the majority of Iraq and Syria after this attack.

'KURDS FOUGHT ISIS EFFECTIVELY BEFORE KOBANÊ AS WELL'

Medin emphasized that people in the West do not know that Kurdish people had fought ISIS effectively and inflicted heavy blows against the jihadist gangs before the resistance in Kobanê as well.

Medin recalled that ISIS gangs had previously defeated the Peshmerga forces as well as the Iraqi and Syrian armies, but Kurdish forces with Kalashnikovs put up unique resistance against ISIS gangs equipped with US and Soviet weapons as the whole world waited for the fall of Kobanê.

Medin pointed out that the entire globe watched Kurdish people’s resistance in awe, and the Kurds became the symbol of the fight against ISIS. Medin described the beginning of the collaboration between the West and the Kurds in the following way:

‘We were having breakfast when the YPG announced that the US began the aerial bombardment of ISIS gangs on September 27, 2014. We left outside and walked to the Eastern Front. A YPG member called Berxwedan (who later died during clashes) pointed towards the area and explained that the US began to bombard ISIS that morning.’

'THE SYSTEM IN ROJAVA WILL SURVIVE WITH OR WITHOUT WESTERN SUPPORT'

Medin stated that he discusses the autonomous system Kurds have been constructing in Rojava since 2012 as well as the struggle against ISIS gangs in his book. Regarding the cantonal system, Medin said that Kurds favor a federal system in Syria where central powers are limited. Medin recalled that the Kurds are fighting the Assad regime as well as ISIS gangs, and said that many Kurds worry that the Assad regime will attack Rojava after the destruction of ISIS.

The Swedish journalist questioned whether the West would betray Kurds, as it has done historically, or support them in the case of a regime attack on Rojava. Medin said that Kurds have a clear leftist ideology and identify themselves as post-modern, for which the US and the West have little desire to show support. However, Medin noted that Kurds have a strong army on the ground and only groups with aerial power such as Turkey can take on them. Lastly, Medin said that one of the reasons why Turkey started a war in North Kurdistan was the success of Rojava Kurds, and the system in Rojava would survive with or without Western support.