Nowadays, especially after the fight in Afrin, there is nothing that can reasonably be called the ‘Syrian revolution.’ This is because, in comparative situations, nobody would accept these parties to run a peaceful and developed society in place of the regime.
The conduct of Syria’s armed opposition groups in Afrin showed everything. They started to steal chickens and tractors upon entering the surrounding villages of Afrin. Similarly, upon entering the city of Afrin, they desecrated and smashed the statue of Kawa the Blacksmith.
The scene of a military tank moving around the roundabout of Kawa the Blacksmith had echoes of a similar scene of an ISIS tank in Mosul. They desecrated the Kurdistan flag and looted peoples’ homes in the city of Afrin and its surrounding villages.
They even snatched cellphones and other personal belongings from people, committed vandalism with forklifts, and were even seen putting shoes in the mouths of people arrested in Afrin.
They also impeded the return of IDPs, and assaulted teenage girls, as recounted by two old men from Afrin on a Turkish television channel. These armed opposition groups settled their families in houses abandoned by locals fleeing the war, and also brought people from Eastern Ghouta and other places to settle in Afrin.
These scenes cost Syrian opposition groups their credibility as a revolutionary force that aspires to bring about change and to build a better future. Their behavior means they have no legitimacy in running these places.
The two old men from Afrin, who were extremely upset by the behavior of these groups, told the Turkish channel they would rather have Turkey running Afrin than these groups.
It is due to these dangerous forces taking possession of Afrin that the city is nowadays more dangerous than many the other places where Russia, Syria and their allies are confronting these same armed opposition groups under the name of the ‘war on terror.’
Unlike Afrin, they did not loot homes and assault people in these places. They even had support among many of the people of these places.
The scenes in Afrin are a snapshot of what opposition held Syria will look like this year. Afrin and Tal Rafaat have become concessions to opposition groups forced out of Eastern Ghouta and Duma.
That is why opposition groups will have no impact on any serious future discussion on Syria. Moreover, the role they played in Syria was fundamentally undermined after the Astana talks, and came to an end after the looting of Afrin.
The concentration of extreme groups, the influx of people from elsewhere in Syria, and allowing the city to be run by Syria’s armed opposition groups will eventually turn Afrin into one of the most dangerous places in the world.
In the past, we saw how the anchoring of extreme groups in Fallujah and Mosul following the overthrow of Saddam Hussein’s regime led to a revival of al-Qaeda and the creation of ISIS, dragging the region and the world into war and destruction.
The PYD pushed Turkey into the arms of Syrian opposition groups. This was a big mistake. After the PYD ascended to power in west Kurdistan, the party’s co-leader was invited and received several times by Turkey. Had this relationship been developed, the peace process between Turkey and the PKK would have made progress and not failed.
This conclusion would have been attainable had they understood Turkey’s regional role and significance to west Kurdistan, and the agreements made in Erbil and Duhok were implemented such that all the main parties of west Kurdistan were invited to form an interim administration whose motto or mission was not perceived to be provocative or dangerous by any country.
The formation of a joint administration run by the main parties in west Kurdistan and not committed to any other party or place is the solution.
The Kurds, influential countries operating in Syria, and regional states should learn a lesson from the war and the looting of Afrin and must not allow it to be repeated.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rudaw.
