Tishreen dam (Ti艧r卯n in Kurdish) lies at the westernmost point of the Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (DAANES), known as Rojava. A few kilometres away are the defense positions of the multi-ethnic military alliance, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
For months now, the picturesque banks of the Euphrates River have become a war zone. The peaceful quiet of the river is gone. In its place is the roar of Turkish fighter jets and the sound of bombs falling day and night on the surrounding hills and the dam itself.
But with every bomb comes the answering battle cries of 鈥淟ong live the resistance of Tishreen!鈥 and 鈥淟ong live our leader Apo [Abdullah 脰calan]鈥 from the hundreds of men, women, and children who have travelled to the dam to keep a continuous protest against the attacks and protect the dam from collapse.
The protesters are calling for international support because the struggle and resistance at the Tishreen Dam impact the entire region, and beyond.
Fall of Assad
Since the fall of the dictator Bashar al Assad on December 8, peace has not returned to battered Syria. Instead, another war has broken out in the north that is only being paid attention to by a few international media outlets.
The so-called Syrian National Army 鈥 an alliance of Islamist militias supported and commanded by Turkey 鈥 has been trying to invade the region around Koban锚. They are encountering determined resistance from the SDF, who are defending the democratic achievements built up since 2012 鈥 from Turkey and the new rulers in Damascus.
The democratic project in northern Syria has been a thorn in the side of the Turkish state for some time because it is based on the ideas of the Kurdish freedom movement and its leader, Abdullah 脰calan. The Turkish state is using every means possible to destroy it and is not afraid to cause a humanitarian and ecological catastrophe in the process.
The Turkish state鈥檚 fascist and genocidal mentality is clear across time: from supporting Islamic State (ISIS), to its cross-border ground invasions into Northern Syria in 2016, 2018 and 2019, and now, as it seizes the opportunity of the fall of the Assad regime, bombing civilians and the dam in the process.
Turkey鈥檚 attempts to destroy the Autonomous Administration go far beyond military tactics. It is waging ecocide on the entire region, damaging the environment and civilian infrastructure to prevent the people from feeding, warming and housing themselves.
Water
Since the outbreak of the Syrian civil war in 2011, the Turkish state has deliberately restricted the flow of water to the Euphrates River, south of the Turkish-Syrian border.
The Turkish state built 22 dams along the courses of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, as part of the Southeast Anatolia Project, in the 1970s. The construction of the dams destroyed Kurdish cultural heritage through flooding 鈥 such as the 12,000-year-old city of Hasankeyf 鈥 and changed the region鈥檚 geography
Such dams interfere with the surrounding ecosystems and massively restrict the water supply to Iraq and Syria.
This part of the so-called Fertile Crescent is considered to be one of the most fertile regions in the world due to the Euphrates and Tigris and the drying out of the soil is a painful consequence of Turkey鈥檚 hostilities.
Electricity
Behind a chain of hills, the 40-meter-high, concrete-gray dam wall rises above the Euphrates riverbed. The dam was completed in 1998 and has supplied large parts of the country with electricity and water ever since.
When ISIS was on the advance in Iraq and Syria, the dam fell into the hands of the terrorist militia, in 2014. A year and a half later, it was liberated by the multi-ethnic SDF. However, the jihadists left a trail of destruction behind them.
The dam鈥檚 hydroelectric turbines could only be put back into operation after lengthy repairs, but now they are idle again. The dam鈥檚 engineers cannot go to work because of the risk of being caught in a bombing attack.
The Tishreen dam is of vital importance for large parts of the country. At peak performance, it can supply the entire north of Syria with electricity. Each of the six turbines has an output of 105 megawatts (about 630 megawatts in total). Reduced water flows mean, however, that only one to two turbines can be operated in parallel.
There have been repeated warnings of a possible dam collapse. Its destruction would not only affect Raqqa, 60 kilometers away, and the Koban锚 canton, but also the cities of Aleppo, Homs and Minbic, which rely on its electricity.
Humanitarian crisis
Since December, 400,000 people in the Koban锚 canton have been without water to sustain themselves, their agriculture and electricity. There are more than 100,000 internally displaced people who have had to flee to the areas east of the Euphrates and who are still living in tents and school buildings.
A continuation of the attacks on the dam will further increase the risk of a humanitarian catastrophe. In addition to the interruption of the electricity supply and operation of water pumps, this could also result in the drying out of agricultural land.
In the worst case scenario, a dam breach would send an enormous destructive flow of water downstream and destroy the largest dam in Syria, the Tabqa Dam. The effects would be felt all along the 1800 km river to its mouth in the Gulf of Persia.
The road leading over the dam and the Karakozak bridge, 40 km to its north, are central lifelines for Syria, connecting the east of the Euphrates with the western regions. The bridge has been hit by SNA attacks since the beginning of December.
The M4 road that runs over the bridge stretches from Aleppo to Damascus in the west and through the self-administering areas of northern and eastern Syria via Mosul to Damascus in the east. By interrupting this lifeline, for which there is no alternative for trade, Turkey is attempting to attack the economy and thus people's livelihoods.
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Defending Tishreen dam
These targeted attacks on the environment and the economy are also intended to undermine people's political support for self-administration.
By defending the Tishreen dam, the SDF are defending the political achievements of the democratic self-administration as well as the livelihoods of people in the entire region. A politics for a democratic co-existence that transcends ethnic and religious boundaries. The question of defending Tishreen is therefore a question of an ecological and democratic perspective for the whole of Syria.
Damage or occupation of the dam would be an ecological and humanitarian catastrophe for the entire region. The past decade of attacks by Turkey and ISIS also shows the violence and oppression that will return to Koban锚 and the cities previously liberated from IS if the Turkish-backed mercenaries reach the eastern side of the Euphrates, as can already be seen in Minbic.
To draw attention to these threats the people have been organising a vigil on the dam since January 8. Different cities in North East Syria send a new convoy of protesters every few days, allowing people to maintain the struggle in shifts. Hundreds of people 鈥 from Koban锚 to the Ciz卯re region to the Arabic cities, such as Raqqa and Deir-A-Zor 鈥 have travelled to the dam, knowing that Turkish drones won鈥檛 hesitate to attack civilians, whether they are old or young.
In targeted bombings by Turkish combat drones and SNA artillery, dozens of civilians have already given their lives to continue these protests and hundreds have been injured, some seriously.
Videos of people taking part in the vigil have spread across the internet: Elderly women shout courageously: 鈥淲e are not afraid!鈥. Hundreds of people dance, perform theater and sing, all while bombs fall around them.
At memorials for the fallen, tens of thousands of people have laid them to rest, with songs and chants of resistance.
The struggle at Tishreen dam is a focal point for all those fighting against ecological destruction wrought by imperialism and capitalism. It is the result of a holistic organisation of society with a connection to one's own country. Only through this can we too prevent the ecological catastrophes of the present and the future, on the basis of self-defense.
For ecological movements worldwide, recognising North and East Syria as an example for all struggling peoples, forms the basis for solidarity in the fight against Turkey's war. Those who can learn from the revolution are those who see themselves responsible for it, who directly take part in the resistance and to enter into a practical exchange with the organised society in North East Syria. With these steps we will protect what we have already won, and strengthen our common struggle together.