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Erdem Arda Güneş is an Istanbul based political analyst. After graduating from University of Ankara's Political Sciences Faculty, International Relations department he started working as a politics/diplomacy reporter for Hürriyet Daily News. He received journalism education at the Berkeley and Minnesota Universities in 2013. He did interviews for various national and international media outlets focusing on diplomacy, politics and arts. Now works as a press advisor and political analyst for an international organization.
An LGBT Military Unit Declares War On ISIS In Raqqa
"These Faggots Kill Fascists! We shoot back! The Black & Pink and Rainbow flag fly in Raqqa. #Queers smashing the Caliphate. #TQILA #YPJ #YPG"
This was the tweet sent from the account @IRPGF that defines itself on its bio as the "International Revolutionary People's Guerrilla Forces - Smashing the State in Rojava and Beyond".
The account's location shows Rojava, where Kurds formed a de facto autonomous region originating in and consisting of three self-governing cantons in northern Syria.
The photograph they shared shows a black AK-47 on a pink flag with an anarchy symbol above it, near a rainbow flag and six armed militants.
The group said it seeks “to smash the gender binary and advance the women’s revolution as well as the broader gender and sexual revolution", in the statement they posted on Twitter along with the photo.
There is not enough information on how many fighters the group recruited or what nationalities are involved, but it is known that many foreigners around the world join Kurdish groups to fight against the terror organization ISIS.
Gays have been targets of ISIS from the very beginning, with footage emerging showing stonings and executions from rooftops that shocked the LGBTI community all around the world, so it would not be imaginary if anarchist gays from different parts of the world would join the battle.
Previously female-only units were formed to battle against the terror group under the name YPG, or "People’s Protection Units", which aimed to take revenge for women whose lives were ruined by ISIS.
Newsweek's Jack Moore talked to the spokesperson of the TQILA and detailed the group's motivation.
Update: Mustafa Bali, the director of the Syrian Democratic Forces’ (SDF) Media Centre, denied the existence of a LGBT military unit to fight ISIS in Raqqa, according to Ara News.
“Emphasizing our deep respect for human rights, including the rights of homosexuals, we deny the formation of such a battalion [...]we consider this news to be untrue,” he said.
