PL
While the armed forces of Kurdish guerilla and militia fought first against ISIS forces on the Şengal Mountain in Iraq and then against Assad’s army for the control of Kobane, a part of the territory of Rojava in Northern Syria that became a symbol of Kurdish autonomy, the media presented this struggle as a fight for survival of all Kurds. At that time, the large Kurdish diaspora showed heretofore unprecedented levels of unity, launching a very modern, multimodal and multilevel campaign that focused on raising civic awareness through large-scale publicity events, collection of funds to aid victims of violence, and extensive lobbying. One of their aims was the removal of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) from the list of terrorist groups. The young generation of the Kurdish diaspora, Europe-born and well educated, consciously used opportunities provided by social media and their network of relations to build up the image of Kurdish military groups as trustworthy partners in the fight against ISIS, simultaneously trying to undermine and shame the Turkish government, already criticized for their management of the Syrian conflict.