This Tuesday, 25 April, is the day of remembrance for the fallen of North and East Syria. The Autonomous Administration (AANES) decided in 2021 to introduce the commemoration day. The date marks a deep turning point in the Rojava revolution, because on this day in 2017, the Turkish Air Force bombed the headquarters of the People's and Women's Defense Units (YPG-YPJ) on Mount Qereçox near Dêrik. Fourteen female and six male fighters died, eighteen others were injured, some seriously.

26 fighter jets bomb Qereçox

Located in the border triangle of Syria-Iraq-Turkey, Mount Qereçox is of strategic importance. It used to be a meeting point for trade, and in 1956 the first oil drilling in Syria took place here.

The attack took place on 25 April 2017, at around 2 am. More than two dozen Turkish Air Force fighter-bombers entered Syrian airspace controlled by the international coalition against ISIS. The target was a site complex that housed not only the headquarters of the YPG and YPJ general headquarters, but also the building of the press center, the Dengê Rojava radio station, a printing shop and other military facilities.

Three of the Qereçox martyrs were media workers 

Already in the early years of the Rojava revolution, Qereçox played an important role in terms of defense. The self-protection units "Yekinêyên Xweparastina Gel" (YXG), which were founded in 2011 shortly after the emergence of the "Arab Spring" in Syria, use it for their military training. After the restructuring of the YXG into the YPG, the headquarters of the task force was established on the Qereçox at the end of 2013. A few months earlier, a group of Kurdish students founded the radio station Rojava FM there. The radio station was later converted into the YPG press center. Three of those killed on 25 April were employees of the press centre.

Simultaneous air strikes in Shengal

At the same time as the attacks against the YPG and YPJ in Rojava, Turkish fighter jets also flew air strikes on the main Yazidi settlement area of Shengal on the other side of the border. Bombings have been reported near several refugee camps housing thousands of survivors of ISIS genocide and femicide in the region since August 2014. Five Peshmerga fighters from the southern Kurdish autonomous government were killed. These were Turkey's first air raids on Shengal.

Muslim: "Turkey attacks those who fight the terrorists"

Salih Muslim, then co-chair of the Democratic Unity Party (PYD), accused Turkey of supporting terrorists. "Instead of attacking ISIS, Turkey is attacking those who are fighting the terrorists," he told the media at the time. Erdoğan stated that the US, Russia and the southern Kurdish government had been informed in advance of the air strikes. Washington said the airstrikes were carried out without the consent of the US and the US-led international anti-IS alliance, which paradoxically includes Turkey as a member - and whose main ally in Syria is the SDF.