The Kurds are the largest stateless ethnic minority in the world, estimated at between 30-40 million people. They are spread largely over four areas known in Kurdish as Bakur (North/Eastern Turkey), Başûr (South/Northern Iraq), Rojhilat (East/Western Iran), and Rojava (West/North East Syria).
The Western-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), largely composed of Kurds in Rojava, have been a key frontline partner for Europe and the West in the fight against the Islamic State, also known as Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). Thousands of SDF fighters, including many Kurds, died fighting the ISIS/ISIL terror group. The Kurds have also taken historic responsibility for tens of thousands of captured Islamic State fighters and their families, including foreigners from dozens of countries, among them Europeans, for years. In an era of value-based pragmatism and unity amongst partners, the values (i.e., democracy, equality, secularism, feminism, and environmentalism) underpinning their system of government known as the “Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria” (DAANES) directly align with our Irish values, and informed a successful and stable system of governance for a large swathe of land East of the Euphrates in Syria that represented all ethnicities living there.
This month, there has been direct conflict between the SDF -former key allies of the West- and the new Syrian government of Syria, which is headed by one of the most senior living former regional Al-Qaeda leaders, Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, now known as Ahmad al-Sharaa. The United States has largely withdrawn from the area and is urging integration with the Syrian Government. This government, however, has had many credible accusations of ethnic cleansing of various ethnic minorities (including Alawites, Druze, and Kurds), for example, over 1000 Alawites are reported to have been massacred by Syrian Government-aligned forces in March 2025. There are also genuine concerns around the Syrian Government’s view on women’s rights, democracy, and religious freedom. The SDF has ceded a majority of the ground that they held and is now largely concentrated in Kurdish-majority areas of the northeast, close to the Turkish border. The SDF is seeking a peaceful resolution to this conflict.
We, at Azadi, ask the Irish government, as a respected international peace maker, to offer support in reaching a peaceful resolution to this conflict.
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