Make Your Goal a Kurdish State, Not Mere Autonomy

Between Blood and Betrayal, Western Kurdistan’s Struggle for Survival, Do Not Trust the Arabs, Prepare for the Struggle Yourself, The Enemy Shows No Mercy and Neither Should You, Do Not Settle for Less, a State or Nothing

Dr. Ibrahim Muhammad Jaza | Exclusive to iKurd.net
Translated by iKurd.net from Kurdish Awene

It is true that this time too, we were not victorious, and our nation in Western [Syrian] Kurdistan faced a harsh defeat and a severe blow. But this is neither the first nor the last time.

As the saying goes, “What does not kill you makes you stronger,” and I hope the Kurds learn a valuable lesson from it. Though I am not optimistic that the Kurdish nation will fully study the lessons of the past and plan for the future.

At a time when Rojava’s body is being torn apart by the blind and reckless hands of history, and while the hostile positions of Arab tribes, who for years pretended to support Kurdish revolutionary forces, are now stabbing them in the back with poisoned daggers, at a time when all the so‑called democratic countries and defenders of human rights watch these unjust attacks shamelessly, silent and indifferent, still, the fighters do not lose courage and remain steadfast in defending their territories.

At the very least, they resist and stand firm against the attacks of both old and new ISIS, against the plans of extremist religious clerics, and against the brutal terrorist actions of the Syrian army.

Oh workers and the wounded by this fall, hearts and souls are shattered and deeply hurt…

A part of my country is bleeding, and its other part is wounded and exhausted…

March 16 was the chemical bombing.
October 16 was when our backs were broken.
Now it is another 16th, and a part of our body is torn apart.
Oh, how I hate the 16th of the month…

Kurds have learned and become used to falling and defeat, but my pain is that “one should not be bitten twice by the same snake from the same hole.” Will this be the last fall? Certainly not, because the spirit of underestimating each other and underestimating the enemy continues. So how can we avoid one defeat after another?

This is not the time for mourning, crying, or lamenting. We have faced a heavy and back-breaking blow, and we have fallen, but we still remain and continue preparing ourselves to build an independent state, whether tomorrow or twenty years from now.

This is the time that Dr. Sharif pointed to in his article, and I fully agree with him, point by point. Therefore, I will not repeat his words, but I will add more. In my opinion, Kurdish forces must prepare themselves for guerrilla warfare and for eliminating the Arab Sharia army and its leaders, one by one, calmly and confidently.

They should view this as Southern [Iraqi] Kurdistan in 1976, rise up and begin. But please, this time, do not forget two things: first, do not trust the Arabs, second, make your goal the creation of a Kurdish state, not just a lesser form like autonomy.

This time, do not rely on any enemy, and do not accept substitutes, so that this does not become an imposed obligation. Learn from our experience, not from books. As the saying goes, “The words of one who has suffered are better than the words of a hundred wise men.”

Syrian Kurdish female YPJ/YPG fighters, Hasaka, Syrian Kurdistan (Rojava), January 26, 2022. Photo: AFP

Friends, last year, when most writers believed that Rojava was far better than Southern Kurdistan and that the future belonged to it, I warned that Rojava does not have a guaranteed future. Look at my article.

Now is not the time to blame our sisters and brothers or the wounded generals of the homeland, who have done far more than their capacity. We must support them, do everything we can for them, and learn lessons from this defeat.

My words are directed to the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan PUK and the Kurdistan Democratic Party KDP: will you take the lesson? When will you understand that those you call brothers are never truly brothers?

Please turn back to your Kurdish brothers, hold each other’s hands, so that in the future you are not forced to kiss the hands of the enemy. Why should we always give our enemies the chance of victory and guarantee defeat for ourselves?

Dr. Ibrahim Muhammad Jaza, Professor, Department of Earth Sciences and Petroleum, University of Sulaimani, Iraqi Kurdistan, Southern Kurdistan.

This article was originally published in the Kurdish language in Awene Newspaper on January 21, 2026.

The opinions are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of iKurd.net or its editors.