Praying for the Kurds

The Kurds have faced ethnic persecution for generations. Since the fall of the Ottoman Empire, Kurds have wanted their own country, yet instead they comprise a sizeable majority in Turkey, Syria, Iraq, and Iran. Kurds have been on the forefront of fighting ISIS and rebel groups in Syria. Many Kurdish fighters are women. The U.S. has worked with Kurdish forces throughout the fighting.

Last week, Kurds logged into Twitter and discovered they had been betrayed. The U.S., with no warning, was pulling out of Syria and allowing Turkey to invade. Turkey is suffering from the mass of refugees that have fled Syria during the war. They claim they need to invade and secure a safe zone between Syria and Turkey, where they will return over a million refugees. That zone just so happens to be the Kurdish region of Syria. Turkey has long sought to stamp out Kurdish culture in Turkey. Thousands have been killed in recent years of fighting between Kurdish nationalists and Turkey. Erdogan has said that Kurdish fighters in northeastern Syria are terrorists, same as the nationalists in Turkey.

In just days, there are reports of ISIS prisoner breakouts, civilian casualties, closed hospitals. Tens of thousands are being displaced. There is chaos and carnage in a place where stability was already fragile. The commander of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces told a senior US diplomat, “You are leaving us to be slaughtered.”

The situation is terribly complex, of course. Yet this moment is clear. The U.S. betrayed a weaker ally. We enlisted them to fight in a war then abandoned them. We used to say we were the defender of freedom. But this moment shows no love of freedom, no leadership, no courage, and no morality.

The Kurds are used to being ignored. They are used to be persecuted. And now they experiencing devastating betrayal. One less ally to call upon. One less ally in which to place hope. One less friend on the world stage. They are learning that the U.S. is not trustworthy. That they are on their own.

When trust is lost, so can hope waver. How can one hope as their land is revenged, as their people die, as the world throws on one more betrayal? I certainly don’t have any solutions to the chaos in Syria. But I pray for the Kurds who continue to get up each morning and fight against evil. I hope that the slaughtering will end. I hope there are moral people who will find solutions. I hope that the refugees and the fighters and the civilians all caught up in this misery don’t lose hope.