Efrîn Defense Council Chairperson Behçet Abdo spoke to the ANF about the Turkish state’s attacks and stated that there are hundreds of thousands of people ready to fight.

Efrîn Canton Defense Council Chairperson Behçet Abdo started his speech by saying, “The Turkish state and their colluding gangs have increased their threats and attacks on the Efrîn canton recently. Since the Rojava revolution started, Turkish state has been increasing their hostility,” and said the following on the threat the revolution is facing: 

“The Turkish state has increased its attacks on Rojava in general and on Efrîn. The Turkish state has attacked Efrîn canton through the gangs loyal to them that they trained until now. Since the Rojava revolution started, the Turkish state has been attacking this revolution and our canton over Azaz and they continue today. As the gangs they rely on in Syria -primarily ISIS- are defeated, the Turkish state has become more ferocious. They are focusing most of their attacks on the Shehba region now. They are continually firing artillery shots into this area and creating civilian casualties. On top of that, their attacks on Shera and Sherawa also continue.

“THEY ARE THE TRUE TERRORISTS”

Abdo pointed out that the Turkish state uses black propaganda that YPG is attacking them to legitimize their own attacks and said: “That is an absolute lie. The whole world knows who the aggressor is. The attacks are led by Erdoğan. Erdoğan attacks us through the Fatah Al Sham and Sultan Murad gangs loyal to him. These gangs have no legitimacy and no power. They are only the Turkish state’s aggression force. The Turkish state wants to gather gangs fleeing Aleppo, Damascus and the whole of Syria and set them upon us.

With ISIS at the fore, all gangs supported by Turkey have tried their luck on Efrîn but they never managed to succeed. Because they have failed, the Turkish state wishes to come down on the Efrîn canton territory with its own army. That is why they are attacking the Shehba region. They may have invaded Jarablus and Bab with their own soldiers, but they won’t be able to enter the Efrîn area. Now the artillery fire continues. They caused many civilian casualties in the Shehba region. We share the information and documents we acquire with the international community. Turkey wants to invade the whole Northern Aleppo line. They cite terrorism as an excuse for that. They are the true terrorists.”

“IT WILL BE THEIR END”

Abdo said the following on their activity and stance in the face of the Turkish state’s threats and attacks:

“To resist and prevail against these attacks on the Efrîn canton, we have fortified our precautions and organization. In both the military and the social sense, our fortification of our organization continues at full speed against an invasion by the Turkish state. We are prepared for war, and we won’t abandon the lands of Efrîn to a Turkish invasion. The Turkish state’s attack on Efrîn won’t be the end of Efrîn or the Rojava revolution, on the contrary, it will bring about the end of the Turkish state and the Erdoğan regime. The Efrîn attack will be their end. They shouldn’t underestimate Efrîn and the Efrîn territory, it won’t be smooth sailing as they believe! There are five hundred thousand people in greater Efrîn area and all of them are prepared to fight. We hold meetings where the people promise resistance with great enthusiasm. Most recently, 100.000 people held a march to show that they are ready for this resistance. Our people have now turned into a true people’s army. Efrîn’s resistance and victory will be Rojava’s resistance and victory. This victory won’t just be limited to Rojava, this will also affect Northern Kurdistan.”

Abdo stressed that the Efrîn canton is part of Rojava and the Rojava revolution and continued: “With the Rojava revolution, we started to organize and govern ourselves. We don’t want any oppressive regime anymore. That was why we pushed the Syrian regime out of our lands, and now we live, work and produce more freely. As much as we didn’t want the Syrian regime, we don’t want the Turkish invasion and occupation either. We want to live with the understanding of the democratic nation together with all peoples. Our only goal is the democratization of Syria.”

Abdo also stressed that there are large numbers of migrants from elsewhere in the Efrîn canton region as well and added: “Even though Efrîn is surrounded, we still open our hearts for the migrants from other places. There are migrants from all over Syria. The people fleeing tyranny can live safely here. The people fleeing Homs, Hama, Damascus, Raqqa, Deir ez-Zor and the Turkish state’s tyranny live safely here in camps we set up. We provide all essential needs for these migrants. The Turkish state has also hurt them, and there were some migrants who were wounded.”

MOBILIZATION

Behçet Abdo also called on the international forces by the end of his speech and said: “They should see the damage the Erdoğan dictatorship is doing to the peoples of their region. Kurdish people and the peoples of the region should stand with Efrîn. The people of Efrîn are mobilized, they continue with their military and social organization for this. Everybody chants the slogan ‘An serkeftin, an serkeftin’ (either victory or victory) and it has become the fundamental way of thinking.”