KM: Is everything we hear about Daesh fighters from the YPJ (that they're easy to kill, that they're terrified of being killed by a woman, etc) true in your experience?
KT: I don't know, it's a tricky one. They want to kill women more than men, so they try harder
KM: Really? Why's that?
KT: I guess bcoz they hate us and what we are doing and stand for – to them women should be without a voice or thoughts, a possession of men, and that's it. And we are the opposite of that
KM: So YPJ are like the ultimate target for them?
KT: We aren't only fighting them but building a society where women are at the forefront. We are recreating society at every level. Knowing that the justice system, education system, political system etc were all created with patriarchal values and to keep women as less than men. It kills them to see women like this – they hate us more than they hate the capitalist West, so yes, YPJ women are the ultimate target along with foreigners coz its good for their propaganda. So I guess a foreign YPJ like me is even worse for them haha
On them being easy to kill – that's a tricky one. It seems they haven't learned in years of war to be quiet before they attack. They always shout "allahu akbar" or "takbir" before they shoot or attack, so that helps us
KM: Jeez, that seems pretty basic
KT: Haha right. They are good at sizmas, which is a guerilla tactic they learned from us doing it to them. We sneak up to where they live, in their controlled areas – you have to be really really careful to not be heard or seen – then you get in their room and shoot them all. They learned it from us and do that now but they blow themselves up. If our guard at that time doesn't see then they manage to kill a lot of friends. When we were attacked on my base a few weeks ago they also attacked another base close by. They did a sizma and one of them got in a room where four friends were sleeping, he blew himself up and all four friends died. Its really difficult to stop a sizma
KM: Their snipers also seem well-trained
KT: Yes they have good snipers and the snipers have an advantage now coz they are on the defensive. So they already know and control the right places high up and place snipers there when we attack. But otherwise the normal fighters on the ground are rubbish at fighting
KM: Yes they always just seem like inept cannon fodder
KT: The special thing between them and us and even other state armies is what we are fighting for. Daesh fight to die, armies fight to control. Their soldiers fight under orders and don't understand the truth behind the politics. Whereas we are fighting for life. For our lives, for the protection of our civilians, and to give life to others who are under Daesh control. And every one of our fighters understands these ideas, the true politics behind it all, and the politics of the world and systems. For this reason we fight with ethics and morals different to anybody else, not to just give physical life but because our social and political revolution gives real life away from political authority, control and oppression where people lead their lives in a human way. Not with competition on each other but to create a society where everyone can live well
KM: Are the Kurdish YPJ members you know generally aware of what an inspiration they are to many people in the “West”?
KT: Yes. They understand the systems in the world too, but because they haven't seen it with their own eyes, they don't understand how difficult it is to turn inspiration into practice. The West and activists there shout in support of Rojava. At the same time their governments sign huge arms deals with Turkey. The activists just continue shouting and that's it. Just shouting doesn't help enough, just saying that you support it doesn't help. People need to learn about our values and our revolution and start practicing it themselves. Radical socialism this way can't survive in one country. It needs to spread to make world powers obsolete so we don't have to rely on world powers to accept us or help us in any way and we can instead share and trade and support each other coz we have common goals as people and societies.
But for this reason they also feel isolated – we see that governments won't send us weapons to appease Turkey. Many of us don't even have grenades, never mind enough heavy weapons or new weapons that don't jam or have sights on them. We hear of support from the West from activists but it doesn't [translate into practical help]. Very few activists actually come here to support, not just YPJ/YPG but the civil society work too. Governments lie when they say they support us – they won't give us weapons because, again: Turkey. They say we are their allies in the fight against Turkey but know well that Turkey is determined to stop us at any cost – they refuse to accept our federation or the YPG/SDF as a force
KM: Where do most of the weapons you do have come from? Any one source?
KT: They are all old weapons from Soviet times made in Russia, Bulgaria, Romania. Some are also from the Syrian regime. The only new things we've been given by the West are tablets to send them coordinates [for airstrikes]. They even play with the airstrikes – many days they just don't answer when we are calling for strikes. I think they are playing games by doing this, to show that we need them and who's boss. To show that we don't have their unconditional support. So we feel isolated in every way. We don't want to rely on states but we have to. We have to compromise and make deals with those who oppose us and sell us out and could turn on us at any minute. And with the people of the West we know it's another fight to get their support to turn into action and practice. We know how strong the propaganda of the establishment is – films, TV, music, fake culture, political games – they all make people feel numb and helpless. It's a fight to get our messages out
