Dr. Loqman Radpay
A few days after the early January 2026 massacre and forced deportation of Kurds from Ashrafiya and Sheikh Maqsoud in Aleppo by Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s government forces and their Turkey-backed allies, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces now faces the same forces west of the Euphrates, in areas that were under Kurdish control.
Turkey has not taken a single step toward recognizing Kurds’ rights, let alone their identity.
Arab tribal forces were the first to abandon the Kurds. This defection carries deep significance. For years, the Kurdish administration offered Arab communities safe haven from the Islamic State and other extremist Sunni groups. Their betrayal exposes a hard truth: The Kurdistan Workers’ Party’s (PKK’s) ideology of a “peoples’ brotherhood” has failed to create a durable and peaceful political order in the Kurds’ host states.
This ideology also has failed in the Kurds’ dealings with Turkey. Almost a year has passed since Abdullah Öcalan, the imprisoned PKK leader, called for a democratic solution between Turkey and the PKK. In response, the PKK signaled good faith by dissolving and laying down its arms, with the hope of securing Turkey’s recognition of Kurdish identity and rights. Ankara has offered nothing in return. Turkey has not taken a single step toward recognizing Kurds’ rights, let alone their identity.
Instead, Turkey and its Arab allies in Syria now seek to dismantle the Kurdish-led autonomous administration in Syria. They cannot tolerate the emergence of a second Kurdish entity in the region. For Turks, Arabs, and Persians alike, nationalism takes precedence over peace. Kurds, by contrast, have pursued coexistence and compromise within the states that govern them. This imbalance has proven costly for them.
National interest dominates politics everywhere, a reality that is neither surprising nor immoral. But the PKK’s assumption that Kurds should democratize the political mindset of Turks, Persians, and Arabs has failed; that burden does not belong to a stateless nation. Kurds lack sovereignty, control over education systems, and the institutional power required to reshape neighboring nationalism. Expecting them to do so amounts to political fantasy.
Recent events underscore this failure. Syrian Arabs who live peacefully under the Kurdistan Regional Government in Iraq now openly support al-Sharaa and his Syrian regime. Kurds face similar realities in Iran, and likely will with any post-Islamic Republic order, should the regime collapse under the weight of ongoing protests.
The Kurds should have changed course much sooner.
These patterns send a clear warning. The Kurds should have changed course much sooner. As a Kurdish proverb says, “The enemies of your father and grandfather will never become the friends of their sons” (“Dujminê bab û kala nabin dostê lawa”). Kurds must adopt a reciprocal strategy: Treat others as they treat you—giving no more, no less.
Even if the current situation leads to a ceasefire, it is likely that the Syrian Democratic Forces will be forced to withdraw east of the Euphrates. If that happens, the Kurdistan Regional Government’s peshmerga—just as they did in Kobani in 2014—must remain prepared to support their compatriots in Syria to ensure the survival of this second Kurdish government. Kurds face an existential moment. Reality, not idealism, must guide Kurdish politics.
Source
https://www.meforum.org/mef-observer/pkks-peoples-brotherhood-has-no-place-in-the-middle-east
