Ap showing the four regions of

End notes
1. http://news.am/eng/news/248367.html
2. Kerem Öktem, Angry Nation: Turkey since 1989, p33.
3. Kerem Öktem, Angry Nation p57.
4. Kerem Öktem, Angry Nation p63.
5. https://www.hrw.org/reports/2005/turkey0305/3.htm#_Toc97005223
6. http://anfenglish.com/features/ihd-released-interactive-mass-graves-map
7. Paul White, The PKK, Coming Down From the Mountains, Zed Books, 2015, page 50.
8. Kerem Oktem, Angry Nation, p143.
9. Paul White, The PKK, Coming Down From the Mountains, Zed Books, 2015, page 50-54.
10. See for example https://uk.news.yahoo.com/erdogan-settles-turkeys-strongman-constitutional-
change-not-135549661--business.html
11. Strangers in a Tangled Wilderness, The Rojava Revolution: A Small Key Can Open a Large Door, P8.
12. http://www.merip.org/mer/mer141/major-kurdish-organizations-iraq
13. http://www.johnpilger.com/articles/the-blair-government-continues-to-insist-that-iraq-poses-a-
threat-to-the-middle-east-despite-clear-evidence-to-the-contrary
14. See for instance http://dialectical-delinquents.com/articles/class-struggle-histories-2/kurdish-
uprising-1991-and-kurdistans-nationalist-shop-front-and-its-negotiations-with-the-baathistfascist-
regime/. We are also grateful to Zaher Baher for his description ofwhat happened during this period.
15. http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/ar/originals/2013/11/iraqi-kurdish-pipeline-turkey-oil-policy-
export.html
16. See, for example, http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/may/10/corruption-scandals-
destabilise-iraqi-kurdistan
17. Paul White, The PKK, Coming Down From the Mountains, Zed Books, 2015, p72.
18. Strangers in a Tangled Wilderness, The Rojava Revolution: A Small Key Can Open a Large Door, p9.
19. https://syriafreedomforever.wordpress.com/2014/04/07/on-the-syrian-revolution-and-the-kurdish-
issue-an-interview-with-syrian-kurdish-activist-and-journalist-shiar-nayo/
20. From Janet Biehl's personal notes ofan interview with Aldar Xelîl (October 2014), kindly provided to
Corporate Watch in 2016.
21. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWKh8C5Z6ps
22. https://tahriricn.wordpress.com/2014/04/07/syria-on-the-syrian-revolution-and-the-kurdish-issue-
an-interview-with-syrian-kurdish-activist-and-journalist-shiar-nayo/
23. See, for example, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-l-phillips/research-paper-isis-
turke_b_6128950.html
24. https://www.yahoo.com/news/turkey-never-allow-kurdish-state-syria-warns-erdogan-
133603673.html?ref=gs
25. https://libcom.org/news/experiment-west-kurdistan-syrian-kurdistan-has-proved-people-can-make-
changes-zaher-baher-2
26. http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2015/10/turkey-syria-russia-pyd-leader-muslim-moscow-
prevent-ankara.html#
27. New World Academy, Stateless Democracy (2015), p35.
28. http://anfenglish.com/kurdistan/kurdish-woman-commits-suicide-to-avoid-rape-by-iranian-
intelligence
29. http://anfenglish.com/human-rights/kurdish-prisoner-behrouz-alkhani-and-five-others-executed-in-
iran
25
a
br
ief
his
to
ry
of
ku
rd
ish
st
ru
gg
le
s

---

PART 2:
an introduction to
democratic
confederalism in
kurdistan

---

DEMOCRATIC CONFEDERALISM IN
KURDISTAN
This article was first published on 18 April 2016.
Above: A commune meeting in Amûdê in Rojava's Cizîrê canton, November 2015. Photo by Brighton Kurdish
Solidarity.
The Kurdish region is currently
undergoing atransformation.
People are organising themselves
in grassroots people's assemblies
andco-operatives, declaring their
autonomyfrom the state andtheir
wish for real democracy. Feminist
andanti-capitalist ideas are
flourishing. These changes are
inspiredbyanewidea: democratic
confederalism. These movements
have the capacityto transform the
realityofmillions ofpeople in
Kurdistan, andpotentiallyspread
to the wider Middle East.
Last year we visited Bakur, the part of
Kurdistan within Turkey's borders, and
Rojava, the Kurdish majority autonomous
region in Syria. This article examines the
theory and practice ofdemocratic
confederalism in Bakur and Rojava, and
goes on to discuss how we can engage in
solidarity, while maintaining an honest and
critical perspective.
We have tried to understand the theory and
practice ofdemocratic confedralism as best
we could, and have taken advice from many
Kurdish friends, as well as activists who
have visited the region. We hope that we
have given an accurate description.
However, any mistakes or inaccuracies are
entirely our own.
27

---

From Marxist-Leninism to
Democratic Confederalism
Kurdish populations have been increasingly
oppressed since the formation ofthe
Republic ofTurkey (see our chapter,
A Brief
History ofKurdish Struggles
). In 1978, the
Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK) was
founded, based on Marxist-Leninist ideas of
national liberation. The PKK began an
armed struggle, with the aim ofachieving
an independent Kurdistan.
During the 1980s and 1990s the PKK rose up
against the Turkish state, calling for
independence. Armed struggle was met by
torture, assassination and ethnic cleansing
aimed at the entire Kurdish population by
the Turkish government's security forces.
Over 3,000 Kurdish villages were
systematically burned during the 1990s.
After the capture ofits leader Abdullah
Öcalan in 1999, the messages and
statements put out by the PKK began to
change. Influenced by the communalist
ideas ofUS social-ecologist Murray
Bookchin, as well as Emma Goldman and
the Zapatistas, Öcalan and others in the
PKK began to criticise nation-states, and the
PKK's stated goal changed from the
establishment ofan independent Kurdistan
to democratic confederalism. We will
summarise here what Öcalan and others say
about democratic confederalism, before
looking at how the ideas have been put into
practice in Rojava and Bakur.
On the nation state Öcalan says:
“The right ofselfdetermination ofa people
includes the right to a state oftheir own.
However, the foundation ofa state does not
increase the freedom ofa people. The system of
the United Nations that is based on nation states
has remained inefficient. Meanwhile, nation
states have become serious obstacles for any social
development.”
1
And on democratic confederalism:
“Democratic confederalism is the contrasting
paradigm ofthe oppressed people. Democratic
confederalism is a non-state social paradigm. It
is not controlled by a state. At the same time,
democratic confederalism is the cultural
organisational blueprint ofa democratic nation.
Democratic confederalism is based on grassroots
participation. Its decision making processes lie
with the communities. Higher levels only serve
the coordination and implementation ofthe will
ofthe communities that send their delegates to
the general assemblies.”
2
Looking more closelyat these ideas,
democratic confederalism is based
on the ideathat societycan be run
trulydemocraticallythrough
networks ofgrassroots assemblies
or communes, which form
confederations with each other
across regions.
Local assemblies elect representatives at the
village or street level and these
representatives represent their assembly at
the level ofthe city or region. Again, the city
or region elects representatives to represent
them at higher levels.
The idea is that the real power remains with
the population, and not with state
28
de
mo
cr
at
ic
co
nf
ed
er
al
is
m
in
ku
rd
is
ta
n

---