The Globe and Mail - 19.10.2019

O4 O THEGLOBEANDMAIL| SATURDAY,OCTOBER19,2019

“I am unafraid of pushing

politicians for answers and I

gettotheheartofthematter.”

Marieke Walsh digs deep for her election

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legislature. Her journalism careerbegan

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POWER

OFMARIEKE

WALSH

| OPINION

W

hen the Syrian Revolu-
tion broke out in 2011 –
one of the revolutions
brought about by the Arab Spring

• I was among the many people
  who saw it as a glimmer of hope.
  Coming from a Christian back-
  ground in Syria, a place that holds
  many cultural, ethnic and reli-
  gious minorities like me, I had
  hoped that Syria could evolve in-
  to a democratic and secular state.
  Instead, the revolution and the
  resulting crackdown have only
  inflamed deep-seated domestic,

religious and historical issues – in

particular, political Islam,jihad,

sectarianism and the oppression

of minorities. Bashar al-Assad’s

brutal despotism, which contin-

ues eight years after that revolu-

tion, has mainly fuelled this

bloody civil war.

And just three years later, I was

among the many Syrians who

were forced to flee from my home

in the Middle East, for fear of be-

ing swallowed up in the deadly

conflict that was tearing my

country apart.

I’m one of the lucky ones. But

now, from the safety of Montreal,

I can only watch helplessly as a

long-standing potential threat

has become reality.

The United States has an-

nounced that it is withdrawing its

troops from northeast Syria, a re-

gion controlled by Syrian Kurds,

who fought as part of the Syrian

Democratic Forces (SDF) – a mili-

tia mostly composed of various

Kurdish, Arab, Assyrian and Sy-

riac fighters who have been tak-

ing on the Islamic State on the

ground.

In turn, Turkish President Re-

cep Tayyip Erdogan has decided

to use this opportunity to pursue

a “safe zone” along the Syrian

side of the border, where up to

two million Syrian refugees can

be resettled – and has threatened

to release the refugees into Eu-

rope if the West opposes his inva-

sion of the region. He’s added a

healthy dose of religious rhetoric,

too: Beating the war drums, Mr.

Erdogan has called his army and

the Turkish-backedjihadimilitias

the “army of Mohammad.”

With the U.S. exiting, Turkish

forces have marched forward,

shelling cities and towns full of ci-

vilians, looting houses and stores,

and reportedly committing war

crimes. Hervin Khalaf, a promi-

nent female political leader, was

reportedly brutally tortured and

killed; the SDF accused Turkish-

backed fighters of the slaying. The

SDF has been forced to align with

the Assad regime for its own sur-

vival, which has only strength-

ened Mr. al-Assad.

After negotiations led by U.S.

Vice President Mike Pence, Mr. Er-

dogan agreed to a five-day pause

in fighting to allow Kurdish forces

to withdraw on Thursday. But the

Kurds have already accused Tur-

key of violating the agreement by

reportedly continuing its cam-

paign of shelling and gunfire. The

situation on the ground remains

highly fraught.

And all I can think of is a book I

read as a part of my coursework:

The Inconvenient Indian, by Tho-

mas King. The book refutes North

American history as passed down

by the colonizers who wrote it,

and shows that First Nations’ me-

mories courageously remain

alive despite the catastrophic

events that Indigenous people

have faced.

The unimaginable sacrifices

made by these brave nations res-

onated with me. And that’s espe-

cially true since this Turkish inva-

sion has unleashed nightmarish

parallels to the Ottoman Empire –

which conquered Syria, systemat-

ically impoverished the region,

persecuted Christians for centu-

ries, purged the indigenous peo-

ple and minimized their history.

Mr. Erdogan is among those who

do not acknowledge what this re-

ally was – colonialism – and in

fact, he has only invoked the Ot-

toman Empire in admiring terms

as he pursues the revival of its leg-

acy.

By the 16th century, the Otto-

mans had moved in from Siberia

and, in defeating the Mamluk

Empire, invaded Syria, a region

that was home to Christian Sy-

riacs, Assyrians, Muslim Kurds

and Arabs.

Many cultural and traditional

aspects of Syrian natives’ lives

were changed forever by this col-

onizing force: They had to learn

another language on top of their

native tongue and Arabic, and

deal with different people who

looked at them as a lower class.

Christians, for instance, had to

dress differently so they could be

easily recognized, and were ruled

by millets, or small independent

courts thatgoverned non-Mus-

lims.

The past 400 years have not

been kind to Syriac and Assyrian

nations. The last century of the

empire was the worst for the na-

tive Syrians, who have suffered

through many massacres and

physical and cultural genocides

at the hands of the Ottoman in-

vaders.

In 1860, under the watch of Ot-

toman authorities, barbaric

groups were allowed to arm and

gather for more than 10 days

around old Damascus, near the

Christian quarter, before mas-

sacring Syrian Christians; many

more were forced to flee. In 1915,

the same Empire launched mili-

tary campaigns to purge the na-

tives of Syria and Anatolia in

what is referred to as the Arme-

nian genocide.

Over the course of the next few

years, at least 1.5 million Arme-

nians, Syriacs and Assyrians died

and many more were displaced;

entire towns, cities, churches,

schools and facilities were erased.

To this day, the Turkishgovern-

ment denies that this ever hap-

pened.

After the Ottomans were de-

feated in the First World War, the

remains of the empire were par-

celled out among the Allied pow-

ers, and the Kurds were left with-

out a home.

While the West has admitted to

its part in colonizing the region,

and all the problems that come

with that, the Ottoman Empire is

rarely accused of this – even

though it should be.

This might be shocking to stu-

dents who went to school in the

region, thanks to an education

system that valorized all things

relating to the idea of the Islamic

caliphate. Up until the time of the

Syrian revolution against Mr. al-

Assad, who Mr. Erdogan once

publicly endorsed, Syrian stu-

dents were taught that the Otto-

mans were the continuation of a

legacy of Islamic caliphates – and

therefore, at least culturally, were

seen as legitimate rulers of the re-

gion, rather than invaders. This

historical dogma ignores many

communities’ history and deep-

rooted traumas in the area.

It might appear odd that in

2014 – 100 years later – Mr. Erdo-

gan did not seem particularly ruf-

fled when the Islamic State be-

sieged Kobani-Ayn Al Arab, a city

that sits just south of Turkey’s

border with Syria and whose in-

habitants are Kurdish, Arab, Ar-

menian and Turkmen, for six

months. Instead, it was the Islam-

ic State-fighting SDF – which Tur-

key sees as deeply tied to the Kur-

distan Workers’ Party (PKK) sep-

aratist movement that wants an

independent state, by any means

necessary – that Mr. Erdogan ac-

cused of terrorism. That was the

case even though those Kurdish

“terrorists” liberated Kobani in

March, 2015, founded the SDF to

regain lands from the Islamic

State’s territorial caliphate, and

established a new base from

which they could work to transi-

tion to political and social peace.

It might also appear paradox-

ical that Mr. Erdogan wants to

make northeast Syria a “safe

zone” for refugees that had fled to

Turkey. According to the U.S. and

the EU, Idlib – a province south-

west of Turkey – is controlled by

the al-Nusra Front, the Syrian di-

vision of al-Qaeda. Despite this,

there has been little support for

an effort to restore Syrian rule in

Idlib to make it safe for refugees

to return to their land.

But it’s not so strange when the

scope of history is taken into ac-

count. Mr. Erdogan wants to re-

store the greatness of the Otto-

man Empire, with everything

that comes with it, even if tradi-

tionally oppressed communities

must return to that place of colo-

nized pain.

If the international communi-

ty continues to allow Mr. Erdogan

to pursue his dream, and lets him

off the hook as it did with Mr. al-

Assad when he used chemical

weapons on his own people, we

will only bear witness to more

tragedy in the future. The world

wouldn’t need to wait for the cli-

mate crisis to bring in our doom –

these empowered autocrats will

be up to the task themselves.

And through all this, my peo-

ple have been caught between

Turkey’s military incursion,

whenever it restarts, and a hate-

ful Assadgovernment – suffering

through it all as forgotten figures

under the thumb of more power-

ful forces, once again. History re-

peats itself, in all ways.

IraqiKurdsteartheTurkishflagduringademonstrationoutsidetheUnitedNationsbuildinginErbil,Iraq,onOct.12.AZADLASHKARI/REUTERS

ForSyrians,Turkey’sincursion

evokesdarkghostsofthepast

HistoryhasseeminglyforgottenthattheOttomanEmpire–thegreatnessof

whichTurkishPresidentErdoganwantstorestore–hasatraumaticlegacy

EIADHERERA

OPINION

Syrian-Canadianactivistandwriter
whoisastudentinpoliticalscience
atConcordiaUniversityinMontreal