The first official visit from Rojava to Ankara was in June 2013. The first meeting was in the Foreign Ministry building. In this meeting, a delegation for the Rojava administration met with officials from the “Syria desk” in the Turkish Foreign Ministry.

This series of meetings continued afterwards. Officials in Ankara gave the message that “Öcalan knows about this meeting” in every meeting with the Rojava administration.

Interlocutors from both sides were in constant communication. Afterwards, there were meetings with Antep, Urfa and Mardin governors. In the meetings in the governorates, border issues were discussed mostly.

In the first meeting in June 2013 and all the meetings that came after, the Turkish side addressed the Rojava officials as PKK members. The Rojava side tried to make their interlocutors accept that they were “organized around Öcalan’s ideas but didn’t have organic ties to the PKK”.

In September 2014, the relationship entered a new phase with ISIS attacking Kobanê. The then-foreign minister Ahmet Davutoğlu called HDP Co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş and told him he wanted to “meet with Salih Muslim”. Demirtaş relayed the message and Salih Muslim came together with the ministry undersecretary Feridun Sinirlioğlu in Istanbul.

In this meeting, there was a message that they would aid Rojava for Kobanê. But soon it was revealed that that was a diversion, and they actually wanted Kobanê to fall. None of the promises were kept, and on top of that, threats of “if you don’t submit to us, you’ll be targeted by ISIS” started.

On January 26, 2015, 4-5 days after Kobanê was cleared of ISIS, the AKP government told the HDP İmralı Delegation that they wanted to meet with the Rojava administration.

In the beginning of February 2015, Salih Muslim went to Istanbul from Brussels. On the same day, another high-ranking Rojava representative who was in Ankara to meet with a western country’s diplomats went to Istanbul and met with Salih Muslim. Rojava administrators didn’t know why Ankara had invited them.

THE MEETING IN DOLMABAHÇE

The meeting was planned for the same day.

It was held in the Dolmabahçe Palace. Feridun Sinirlioğlu was present along with a delegation in Turkey’s name. Rojava was represented by Salih Muslim and one other administrator.

Sinirlioğlu gave the opening speech. Undersecretary Sinirlioğlu relayed “Ahmet Davutoğlu’s greetings” and then told them that Öcalan knew of the meeting.

Around the same time, HDP İmralı Delegation Member Sırrı Süreyya Önder was present in the Dolmabahçe Palace, but didn’t attend the meeting between these parties.

Sinirlioğlu said the reason they invited the Rojava administrators was to ask for help on the Suleyman Shah tomb.

WHY ANKARA WANTED TO MOVE THE TOMB

The meeting was held by the beginning of February. A few days before, ISIS was pushed out of Kobanê. Suleyman Shah’s tomb was 30 km south of Kobanê and was then controlled by ISIS. There were 40 Turkish soldiers there and they were under siege by ISIS.

Turkey had provided logistics for the soldiers over Jarablus (which was also under ISIS invasion) up to then, and there was traffic between there. So, they had continued their presence in Suleyman Shah for some 2 years in a collaboration with ISIS.

But that situation wasn’t sustainable anymore, and if YPG drove ISIS out of the tomb, then there would be talk that “Turkey couldn’t save the tomb of their own ancestor, but YPG did”. The attempt to move the tomb was initiated to prevent this. But, alas, that was also impossible without the YPG.

TURKEY ASKED FOR HELP FROM THE YPG

After this reminder, let’s return to the Dolmabahçe meeting. Feridun Sinirlioğlu said in this meeting that ISIS was using the tomb against Turkey, and they wanted to move the tomb. As the state and the government, they had decided to move the tomb. Afterwards they were going to bomb the place. They wanted to move the tomb into Kobanê territory. The YPG was the ruling force there, and they wanted to do it with the YPG’s help.

The Rojava side said there was a military component to the situation and they had to speak with the YPG for that. Then, Sinirlioğlu repeated their demand that the YPG help them.

PROPOSING SALIH MUSLIM'S VISIT TO IMRALI

A decision was made to continue the meetings and the interlocutors were determined. The matter is laid to rest to be revisited later. Sinirlioğlu said there was a block in the talks between the government and the PKK as well, and that the Rojava administration could help with that. In the discussion on how that help might be, the Turkish side said Salih Muslim can visit İmralı. But that meeting never took place.

MEETING AMONG MUSLIM, SİNİRLİOĞLU AND ÖNDER

After the meeting, Salih Muslim, Feridun Sinirlioğlu and Sırrı Süreyya Önder held another meeting in the Dolmabahçe Palace. Önder was to relay the details of the meeting to Öcalan.

Two days after this meeting, a state bureaucray who was present in Dolmabahçe called his interlocutor in Rojava and they planned another meeting to discuss details for the Suleyman Shah operation. MİT, Staff General representative and Foreign Ministry representative, YPG representative, Rojava Intelligence representative and a politician official were present in the meeting held in the outpost on the border between Suruç and Kobanê. The same meeting was held almost every day for two weeks. In mid-February, Ankara invited the Rojava administration to Dolmabahçe again and said they were ready for the operation.

HOW THE OPERATION WAS CARRIED OUT

The parties decide on the operation. The Turkish side was to hit ISIS groups with jets and artilleries, and asked the YPG for coordinates to that end. None of the coordinates given by the YPG were hit by the Turkish jets or artilleries.

And on the night of February 22, 2015, some 60 tanks, 60 armored vehicles and 300 soldiers were dispatched to the Suruç-Kobanê border. But YPG only allows 12 tanks, 30 AVs and 150 soldiers through. 150 YPG fighters also take part in the operation.

The YPG fighters took the Turkish soldiers to 200 m from the tomb. The tomb was taken and the grounds were bombed. The former location of the tomb is still in ruins today.

As it is known, Suleyman Shah’s tomb was brought to the Eshme village in Kobanê. That location was determined by the Turkish side. The owner of the land was informed beforehand. The Turkish officials said they would pay the rent of the land for as long as the tomb was there, and the Suruç district governor was put on duty for this. But this money was never paid.

This was the only joint initiative by Rojava and Turkey, and the Ankara administration counts this as their own.

But Suleyman Shah’s tomb is still there. The distance between the YPJ women’s army and the Turkish flag is a mere 100 meters.

This operation was also reflected in Öcalan’s 2015 message for Newroz. After Öcalan prepared and submitted his Newroz message in mid-March, a demand was relayed to him from Ankara: “It would be helpful for the process if you also reference the Suleyman Shah operation.” Ankara demands the expression “The spirit of Eshme” be added to the message.

Öcalan added the phrase “the spirit of Eshme” to the Newroz message, thinking it could symbolize the Kurdish-Turkish peace and togetherness in Syria and in the region in general.

But, as one recalls, this message was refused by the Staff General right after Newroz.

But the meetings always continued. We don’t know if they continue right now.

But, Ankara has tied their fate to Rojava and Syria for the Kurdish issue. Expecting Ankara to develop “good relations” with Rojava under the current conditions would be a great folly and oversight. This chance is already lost. The Turkish government staged their Rojava strategy over animosity, and didn’t leave themselves any option other than failure.

In this case, Turkey and Rojava carrying out a “joint operation” in Raqqa or elsewhere is conjecture that will never come to pass.