After years of working towards autonomy, Syria's
Kurds have been dropped by their US ally and forced to call in the
Damascus regime to stem a six-day
Turkish offensive.
Syria's Kurds have largely stayed out of the country's eight-year civil war, instead building their own institutions in regions they control in northern and northeastern Syria.
After decades of marginalisation, they have their own authorities, security forces and even schools in areas along the country's northern border.