YPG: we will struggle to liberate Afrin maintaining revolution’s gains

YPG General Command indicated that they will struggle to liberate Afrin insisting on resistance against the occupying state, which uses the language of occupation and plans to carry out attacks, and will preserve the values of our people and the revolution’s gains.

YPG General Command has issued a written statement to the general opinion, on the anniversary of one year since the Turkish occupation army and its mercenaries launched attacks on Afrin 

The text of the statement:

“The developments in the context of revolution and struggle of peoples in north and east Syria and Rojava Kurdistan in creating unity among the peoples seeking freedom, the struggle which began in Rojava against IS has become a struggle against all forms of occupation.

The Turkish state, which strives to demonstrate its occupation of the region as a project, and with the aim of obstructing the democratic project in the Kurdish capital of Rojava, built by our people on the basis of coexistence, the Turkish state has drawn up a plan to occupy the territory of Syria and Rojava in Kurdistan. The Turkish state began its attacks on 20 January 2018 in cooperation with the forces that condoned it, the fighters of “People and Women Protection Units” have revealed a heroic resistance for two months in the face of the occupation attempts. Our people from the age of 7 to 70 years have played a great role in the resistance against the occupiers who used various heavy weapons, including the air force, and the most advanced technology to kill our people.

In order to spare our people more massacres, our units decided on 18 March to end the first phase of the resistance and announce the second stage which is still going till today. Afrin today lives under violations of various kinds and systematic ethnic cleansing and looting, Afrin have suffered of these violations as a result of the practices of the fascist Turkish state.

We, as YPG, YPJ will not stand idly by. We declare that with the aim of liberating Afrin and our people, we will wage a great struggle and resist against the occupying state, which uses the language of the occupation and plans to launch attacks. We will maintain our people’s values and gains achieved by the revolution. “