Rauf Naqishbendi | Exclusive to iKurd.net
Let us consider this fanatic Abu Mohammed al-Golani who has recently been the world’s headline news. Who is he, and how can he bring about terror worse than ISIS to Syria and the West? How will this fanatic figure with Sultan Erdogan react to Syrian Kurds?
As Al-Jazeera explained Abu Mohammed al-Golani the leader of Al-Golani coordinated in those early years with Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, head of al-Qaeda’s “Islamic State in Iraq”, which later became ISIL (ISIS). In April 2013, al-Baghdadi suddenly announced that his group was cutting ties with al-Qaeda and would expand into Syria, effectively swallowing al-Nusra Front into a new group called ISIL.
Al-Golani rejected this change, maintaining his allegiance to al-Qaeda, and afterward severed ties with both those groups.”. The point to be made here is that the man was a follower of Al-Qaeda and ISIS. Even though he claims to be moderate at present, his assertion is insincere because he is the same fanatic as he has been in the past with a different claim. He may declare to be an advocate of fairness and establish law and order in Syria with the participation of the people of Syria regardless of their ethnic or religious background.
Once he is established, then his true color will show as he will follow his old boss Al-Qaeda and ISIS to claim the establishment of the Islamic Caliphate and export terrorism to the world. To establish his authority, he will eliminate any person, or ethnic group who opposes his authority. He will impose rigid Islamic Sharia upon Christians, and Kurds who are Muslims and despise Islamic Sharia.
Kurds are considered moderate Muslims with full respect for Christianity, other religions, and women’s rights, and they lived with other non-Muslim minorities for centuries without any confrontations. Kurdish society is naturally democratic and has struggled for centuries to establish a democratic country. Therefore, Kurds will not fit into the framework of Islamic Sharia. Then the bad news for Hayat Tahrir al-Sham is that their system of abusive Islamic Sharia is not workable for Syria and people will not be able to tolerate it.
Given Al-Golani’s background all minorities in Syria including Christians, Kurds, and others are fearful. For Kurds, the danger comes from both Al-Golani and Turkey who are in unison to eliminate The People Defense Unit (YPG) and suppress the Kurdish voice for freedom.
On December 21, 2024, Foreign Minister of Turkey Hakan Fidan said, “Turkey will do ‘whatever it takes’ if the Syrian government cannot address the Kurd militia issue.”. Turkey has been sponsoring and funding Hayat Tahrir al-Sham since its birth. And for sure HTS will be a puppet of Sultan Erdogan and his fanatic Islamic political AK party.
The Kurds are in a precarious situation, for Sultan Erdogan and HTS are ganging up against them. The only hope Kurds have is that the US will come to their rescue. Let us shed light on the US’s behavior in a region since the beginning of turmoil in Syria: in March 2017, the United States designated HTS as a terrorist organization.
In 2017, the FBI put up a $10 million reward for information leading to the arrest of Abu Mohammed al-Golani. In December 2024, the United States lifted a $10-million reward it placed for the arrest of Sharaa following meetings between HTS officials and US diplomats in Damascus. Turkey has been the primary sponsor and funding Hayat Tahrir al-Sham since its birth with the full knowledge of the US.
The US’s designation of HTS as a terror organization and a $ 10-million bounty is in a sense meaningless for the US was aware that HTS couldn’t survive without Turkey’s arms and monetary assistance. If the US were serious, it would have gone after Turkey and had enough leverage to thwart Turks sponsoring HTS.
Listing HTS as a terror organization by the US didn’t harm HTS, and it only served as a symbolic gesture. It has been known to the US that all rebel groups who fought Syrian Assad except the Kurdish YPG were fanatic Muslims. Yet, According to the New York Times, the United States has since at least early 2013 been providing military equipment, weapons, and training to armed Syrian rebel groups actively seeking to overthrow the Assad regime.
While Kurds are in immediate need of US support, the US is going through a presidential transition. The days of President Joe Biden’s office are numbered. The next president, Donald Trump is the same President who sold Kurds to Turkey, as reported by Rolling Stone, on October 14, 2019, “after a phone call with Turkish President Recep Erdoğan, and without consulting the Pentagon or Congress.
Less than a week later, Trump ordered the removal all U.S. troops from the region, further endangering the Kurdish people, strengthening ISIS.”,. Then after the ousting of Assad’s regime, President-elect Trump said, “Right now, Syria has a lot of, you know, there’s a lot of indefinites … I think Turkey is going to hold the key to Syria,”. Trump wrote. “In any event, Syria is a mess, but is not our friend, and THE UNITED STATES SHOULD HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH IT. THIS IS NOT OUR FIGHT. LET IT PLAY OUT. DO NOT GET INVOLVED!”
Let us pray Trump will be responsible enough to thwart Turkey and HTS from attacking Kurds. Should Trump do what he said, America will lose the only genuine friend it has in the entire Muslim World; and will let HTS bring about a worse wave of terror and bloodshed to the Middle East and the West.
Conspicuously, Turks are not aiming for peace in Syria, but rather their mind is set on Genocide against Kurds, the time is ticking, and the US should react now otherwise the genocidal action to be committed by Turks against Kurds will have tragic consequences go far beyond the living generation. The US will be held responsible for its aloofness.
Rauf Naqishbendi is a retired software engineer in the San Francisco Bay Area. A long-time senior contributing writer for iKurd.net. His memoirs entitled “The Garden Of The Poets”, recently published. It reads as a novel depicting his experience and the subsequent 1988 bombing of his hometown with chemical and biological weapons by Saddam Hussein. It is the story of his people´s suffering, and a sneak preview of their culture and history.
The opinions are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of iKurd.net or its editors.
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