Kurdistan or Greater Kurdistan is a roughly defined geo-cultural territory in Western Asia wherein the Kurds form a prominent majority population and the Kurdish culture, languages, and national identity have historically been based. Geographically, Kurdistan roughly encompasses the northwestern Zagros and the eastern Taurus mountain ranges.
Turkmen, Türkmen, Turkoman, or Turkman may refer to:
Jazira or Al-Jazira, or variants, may refer to:
Tell Abyad is a town in northern Syria. It is the administrative center of the Tell Abyad District within the Raqqa Governorate. Located along the Balikh River, it constitutes a divided city with the bordering city of Akçakale in Turkey.
Afrin District is a district of Aleppo Governorate in northern Syria. The administrative centre is the city of Afrin. At the 2004 census, the district had a population of 172,095. Syria's Afrin District fell under the control of the People's Protection Units (YPG) around 2012 and an "Afrin Canton" was declared in 2014, followed by an "Afrin Region" in 2017. During Operation Olive Branch, the entire district was captured by Turkey and its allies.
The Democratic Union Party is a Kurdish left-wing political party established on 20 September 2003 in northern Syria. It is a founding member of the National Coordination Body for Democratic Change. It is the leading political party among Syrian Kurds. The PYD was established as a Syrian branch of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in 2003, and both organizations are still closely affiliated through the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK). Finland and Sweden’s alleged support for the PYD, is one of the points which caused Turkey to oppose Finland and Sweden’s NATO accession bid.
The Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES), also known as Rojava, is a de facto autonomous region in northeastern Syria. It consists of self-governing sub-regions in the areas of Afrin, Jazira, Euphrates, Raqqa, Tabqa, Manbij and Deir Ez-Zor. The region gained its de facto autonomy in 2012 in the context of the ongoing Rojava conflict and the wider Syrian Civil War, in which its official military force, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), has taken part.
Afrin Region is the westernmost of the three original regions of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria.
A number of different symbols have been used to represent the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (NES), commonly known as Rojava. The Autonomous Administration adopted an official emblem in December 2018. The emblem consists of the words "Autonomous Administration" in Arabic, surrounded by seven red stars representing the regions of northeast Syria, as well as a branch of olives and spike of wheat, two crops grown in the region. Surrounding all of the symbols is the words "Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria" written in Arabic, Kurmanji, Syriac, and Turkish, the languages spoken in the region. The blue and yellow semicircles the whole emblem is put upon represents the Euphrates river and the "permanent spring" of the region. A flag with the Autonomous Administration's emblem on a white field is also used occasionally to represent the Administration itself.
The foreign relations of Rojava refers to the external relations of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES). The AANES, consisting of three regions, was formed in early 2014 in the context of the Syrian Civil War, a conflict that has caused the involvement of many different countries and international organizations in the area.
Yazidis in Syria refer to people born in or residing in Syria who adhere to Yazidism, a strictly endogamous religion. Yazidis speak the Kurdish language of Kurmanji. Although some are scattered in Turkey and the Armenia, Iraq is the center of their religious life, the home of their Amir, and of the tomb of their most revered saint, Sheikh Adi. Yazidis in Syria live primarily in two communities, one in the Al-Jazira area and the other in the Kurd-Dagh.
AANES–Syria relations concern the military and political relations between the Ba'athist Syrian Arab Republic and the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (NES), a de facto autonomous multi-ethnic region in northern and eastern Syria. The Syrian government does not officially recognise the autonomy of the AANES, and advocates a centralist approach to the governance of Syria. The NES seeks the federalisation of Syria. For most of the Syrian civil war, there has been a non-aggression pact between the military of Syria and the Syrian Democratic Forces, with occasional confrontations and some cooperation against Islamist groups, in particular against the Turkish Armed Forces and the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army.
The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) is an armed militia of the rebels in North and East Syria (AANES). An alliance of forces formed during the Syrian civil war composed primarily of Kurdish, Arab, and Assyrian/Syriac, as well as some smaller Armenian, Turkmen and Chechen forces. It is militarily led by the People's Protection Units (YPG), a Kurdish militia recognized as a terrorist group by Turkey, and also includes several ethnic militias, as well as elements of the Syrian opposition's Free Syrian Army. Founded in October 2015, the SDF states its mission as fighting to create a secular, democratic and federalised Syria. According to Turkey, the Syrian Democratic Forces has direct links to the PKK.
The Turkish Armed Forces and its ally the Syrian National Army have occupied areas of northern Syria since August 2016, during the Syrian Civil War. Though these areas nominally acknowledge a government affiliated with the Syrian opposition, they factually constitute a separate proto-state under the dual authority of decentralized native local councils and Turkish military administration.
The de facto Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, sometimes referred to as "Rojava", is divided into several self-governing regions. The Afrin, Jazira and Euphrates Regions followed from the cantons established in January 2014 and were envisioned as sub-divisions for a future federalisation of Syria. The three cantons were later reorganized into three regions with subordinate cantons, areas, districts and communes.
Safe zones, de-escalation zones or no-fly zones have been proposed or created at various points during the Syrian civil war which began in 2011, including "de-escalation zones" agreed between the Turkish and Russian powers backing various belligerent parties and no-fly zones proposed in the Kurdish Northeast and rebel Northwest of the country.
2010s in Syria political history refers to events during the 2010s in political history of Syria.
The following is a timeline of the Syrian Civil War from September–December 2019. Information about aggregated casualty counts is found at Casualties of the Syrian Civil War.
The 2020–2021 Ayn Issa clashes were a series of clashes between the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria and the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army (SNA) in Ayn Issa during the Syrian civil war.
