Tell Tamer (Arabic: تل تمر, Syriac: ܬܠ ܬܡܪ, Kurdish: Girê Xurma) also known as Tal Tamr or Tal Tamir, is a small town in the Qamişlo Canton, in the Jazira Region of the Democratic Federation of Northern Syria.
Originally inhabited by Assyrians in the early 20th century, a large minority of around 20% Assyrians remain in the town, living alongside a majority Kurdish, and a small, recently settled Arab Bedouin population.
In the 2004 census, Tell Tamer had a population of 7,285.
Located by the Khabur River at a major road junction, the town was an important transport hub for Syria.
Before the beginning of the 2011 protests against Bashar al-Assad, structures like the Kumin and Mala Gel already existed among the Kurds. Because of the harassment at the hands of the state forces, the Kurds created their own informal organs of self-administration, which were judged as illegal by the central state. The Mukhabarat (secret police) could arrest anyone participating in them. After the government forces departed from the territory of Jazira, the Kumin and the Mala Gel took government functions upon themselves. A little over a year ago, representatives of the Kurdish, Assyrian and Arabic communities decided to give the political system its current form. In January 2014, the forming of the cantons Jazira, Kobanê and Afrin and the unifying territorial entity of Rojava was announced.
I take a minibus and go to Qamishlo, the biggest city of the canton. There are dozens of oil pumps along the road. Hilly fields covered with fresh, green grass with oil pumps sticking out like crooked nails. When you look a second time you realise very few of them are moving. Only a small number are functioning.
The year 2016 was characterised by the advance of economic projects that aimed to improve the communal economy in Rojava, especially the projects that were connected to women.
In Rojava, the significance of the co-operative system lies in efforts to democratise all sectors of society, including the economy. For this reason, creating alternative means and avenues that allow traditionally marginalised groups such as women to actively participate and engage with the market is an essential aspect of the radical democratic model.
