In the third part of this in-depth interview, KCK Executive Council co-chair Cemil Bayık spoke about the Turkish policy over Syria, which proved a failure, and Erdoğan's attempts to meet with Assad. 

The first part of the interview can be read here, while the second part can be read here.

Negotiations are taking place behind closed doors between Turkey, Syria, and Russia. In these talks, it is revealed that Erdoğan wants to meet with Assad. He used to call Assad his brother, then he called him a murderer, and now he’s talking about Mr. Assad again as somebody with whom he seeks friendship. What is the reason for Erdoğan’s zigzagging, and why does he want to meet Assad so much?

As it is known, Erdoğan wanted to change Syria. He wanted the Syrian regime to be overthrown and to implement a government that would be loyal to Turkey. In this way, he was going to put Syria at Turkey’s service. That was a plan they publicly explained. And they worked hard for its implementation. In this course, they destroyed Syria, made millions of Syrian people migrate, many had to migrate from their lands, the economy fell in Syria, and they made the people and society miserable. They established and trained many proxies and mercenaries, and they are now using these mercenaries in many countries. They turned millions of people into refugees and threatened Europe. They both received money from Europe and used those refugees to keep Europe silent about their politics against the Kurds.

Erdoğan threatened that either they would stand by him, turning a blind eye to whatever he did to the Kurds, or he would send the refugees from Syria to them. That is another reason why Europe is silent.

The Turkish state exploited these refugees greatly, forcing them into cheap labor, and accordingly, Turkey’s capital benefited from these people. They also employed many people as spies and agents. But now those who left Syria have become a big burden for them, and they want to get rid of them. They are trying to prepare the ground for this. Just as they massacred Greeks, seized their properties, and plundered their houses in the October 6 and 7 incidents, they did the same to Syrians in recent months. They massacred people, looted their shops and houses, and seized their property. They want to force them to leave. In order to drive them out of the country, they want to launch a new occupation attack on Rojava and settle the people there. In order for this to be successful, they want to prevent anyone from resisting or being outraged by these plans. On the contrary, they want to create the image that they are doing something good and helping the Syrians. In this way, they are also sending a message to Europe. They want to convey to them that they can push the problem even further away from them and that all they have to do is allow Rojava to continue to be occupied. Erdoğan is also sending this message to the peoples of Turkey. This is how they want to prepare the ground for the invasion.

Their Syria policy was not successful; they were defeated. Not only us but also many people in Turkey say this. They say that Turkey has taken wrong steps in Syria and that Turkey has caused great destruction in Afrin and other places. They changed the demography, disrupted the geography, and plundered natural resources. Some have started to openly criticize this reality in Turkey. So, one can clearly point out that the Turkish state's Syria policy failed. But this does not mean that Recep Erdoğan has given up on this policy. He is changing tactics in the policy he has been pursuing until now. The other day he said, “I want to solve the problems in Syria,” and with regard to Assad, “We used to meet as a family, and now we can meet again.” Erdoğan still wants to take over Syria by placing his gangs and mercenaries. He says that his only condition is that Syria must not accept the status of the Kurds and must eliminate it. They have occupied many places, from Idlib to Gire Spi, Afrin, and Serekaniye. For such negotiations to carry any weight, Turkey must stop occupying. Turkey is not in the position to formulate conditions. How could there be good relations when Turkey still occupies Syrian land? If the Syrian government accepts the talks under the current situation, it will render itself meaningless. Erdoğan is the one who brought Syria into this mess. I guess that the Syrian government is well aware of this. Erdoğan changing his old policy does not mean that he has given up on his goals. He has not achieved results with his tactics, and he wants to achieve his goal by developing a new tactic. His aim is to seize Syria and put it at the service of the Turkish state.

The Rojava Revolution has entered its 13th year. But there are problems both inside and outside. The Rojava administration has also spoken. They have explained the terms and conditions for the solution to the problems. How do you see the future of Northern and Eastern Syria and Syria in general? How can they solve their problems?

First of all, I would like to greet the people of Rojava and all the Arab, Armenian, Assyrian, Circassian, and Turkmen people living in Rojava together with the Kurdish people, in other words, all the people living in Northern and Eastern Syria. The Rojava Revolution is a great revolution. It has had and will have significant effects in the Middle East. It has brought about many changes. In particular, the fact that women led the revolution had an impact and change on the entire Middle Eastern society, affecting both mentality and life. A democratic change has developed. Rêber Apo has contributed a great deal to the realization of this revolution. It was his years of work in Rojava that laid the foundation for this revolution. There are now great dangers to this revolution, both internally and externally. The revolution cannot completely defend itself. This might not be the case in the political sense, but in the cultural sense, the revolution is not yet complete. If a revolution is not completed culturally and socially, it is always in danger. In this area too, work is being carried out to defend the revolution and to make it persistent.

The Turkish state wants to defeat this revolution because it is hostile to the Kurds. For this, it again wants to take advantage of the Barzanis. It wants to strike a blow to the revolution with the hand of the Barzanis. Hakan Fidan made a statement recently, implying that the PKK would have surrounded every part of Iraq and that now Turkey would want to save Iraq from this. He basically said the same about Syria. There he said that the people in Rojava have seized the oil and that now Turkey would want to free this oil and put it at the service of Syria.

They are trying to present themselves as if they are completely in the service of Iraq and Syria. They speak almost as if they are so friendly with these governments that they would put the lives of Turkish soldiers at stake for this. Who do they think they are fooling with this? They want to realize a neo-Ottoman empire in Syria and Iraq, and in this way, they aim to dominate the Middle East. That is why they present themselves as angels. This shows the reality of the Turkish state and how powerful it is in psychological and special warfare. It shows how they are ready for every lie, every form of blackmailing, and every form of deception. Both the Iraqi and Syrian people need to be careful about this.

Those who realized the Rojava Revolution have tasted freedom; therefore, they will protect the revolution. They should not pay attention to what the forces around them want them to do. They should focus exclusively on themselves. They should develop their revolution through their own means and struggles. They should establish dialog with Syria in order to solve their problems. If the Syrian regime does not agree to a solution, they should try other ways. There are many ways. They are not prisoners of a single path. If they prepare themselves well, if they strengthen their relations with the peoples, and if they are well organized, they can stand against everything.

Another point is that meeting the demands of the Turkish state is of no benefit to Syria. The demands of the Turkish state are obvious, and it will do what it has done in Syria until today. They are bringing about the end of Syria. Syria must act according to the demands of the Syrian people, not the Turkish state. If they accept the demands of the Turkish state and are hostile to the Kurds, they will be serving the Turkish state. This is how Erdoğan wants to realize his goals: to plunder Syria in ways he didn’t manage to in the course of the last few years.