AN INTERVIEW WITH ERCAN AYBOGA As the Islamic State (IS) attacked the Kurdish city of Kobanê, the name Rojava was on every tongue. But what is this place, and who are the people live there? Ercan Ayboga visited Syrian Kurdistan in May 2014. He was interviewed in German about his trip by the online magazine Marx21.
(ANF/NERGİS BOTAN/DERİK) With the Syrian economy collapsing because of war, the cost of living on the rise, and an embargo against Rojava, residents of West Kurdistan are building the future and affecting an economic revolution. The Agricultural Association in the Cizîre Canton, working as part of the Economic Development Association, has brought in the spring
Rojava is quickly becoming a center of trade and production despite the shortages and sufferings caused by the ongoing war, according to an article from ANHA carried by Özgür Gündem. Economic development is occurring along the lines set forth by the leadership of the Kurdish Freedom Movement, and current economic growth is being led by
The following interview was conducted with Dr. Amaad Yousef, the Minister of Economy for the Efrîn Canton in Rojava by Sedat Yılmaz and appeared in Özgür Gündem. Yılmaz spoke with Dr. Yousef as he took part in a conference organized by the Democratic Society Congress (DTK) in the city of Van last month. The subject of the conference was the ‘Democratic Economy.’ The interview has been translated into English below.
The canton’s economy is heavily agricultural based and dependent on plant and animal production. As a result of hostilities and the displacement of people, no crops were planted or produced, with the livestock dispelled, relocated, confiscated by ISIS or killed during the conflicts.
The liberation of the dam, which had been under ISIS control since 2014, means that now the city of Kobane can have fresh water as well as regain the source of its electricity.
This report was produced in coordination with the Reveberiya Xweseriya Demokratik Kantona Kobane- Suriya, in October 2015 and outlines the status of the agricultural industry in the canton and the surrounding villages.
In Western Kurdistan, agriculture and livestock are being revived. While the area of cultivated land gets bigger, livestock is developing and dairy facilities are being built up. Products banned under the Ba’ath regime have already been seen in the market. Economic power is strengthening day by day despite the embargo and oppressions on Rojava, where cooperative organizations have become prominent.
The fundamental difference with the Western judicial systems is that on average only a third of the social disputes reach a court. All the others are solved by the communes -area assemblies- through agreements between the parties and light punishments.
Since 2010, one of the objectives of the movement for Democratic Confederalism has been the founding of so-called “freedom villages”. These villages place value on democracy, ecology and the equality of women and men. The material and economic basis of these villages are cooperatives. The villages aim to be as self-sufficient as possible.
The Centre for Women’s Economy held a meeting for the communes and women’s bodies in its headquarters in West Street in the city of Qamishlo, to start work on the agricultural cooperative project that was scheduled a month ago. The meeting was attended by members of local councils, communes and women’s bodies.
Hassan said that their primary goal is the development of cooperatives and they went ahead with some pilot projects in this area, where they sought to encourage people to set up cooperative societies through communes.
