After Rojava

After Rojava

Alp Kayserilioglu argues that the ceasefire between Damascus and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in early 2026 effectively ends Rojava as an autonomous, Kurdish-run region. Integration talks began after the fall of Assad in December 2024 but stalled past their deadline; the new government then turned to force, attacking Kurdish neighbourhoods in Aleppo, exploiting the SDF’s weakness in Arab-majority Raqqa and Deir ez-Zor, and launching a full offensive on the northeast. Under the truce the SDF is folded into the army and Kurdish governing bodies merged into state institutions.

He traces Rojava’s rise through the civil war and its alliance with the US against the Islamic State, support he describes as temporary and transactional. Washington largely ignored Turkish attacks, cooled towards the SDF as the new Damascus government consolidated, and did not stand in the way of the offensive, while the interests of Turkey, Israel, Syria and the US converged against Kurdish self-rule.

Kayserilioglu treats US conduct as predictable imperial policy, and recognises what Rojava meant for women’s liberation and for the democratic self-rule of an oppressed people. He also calls for honest, self-critical debate within the movement about its strategic choices, with the aim of drawing lessons rather than assigning blame.

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