It’s easy to say everything this US administration has undertaken so far has been inept, but the open sanction of Turkish advancement in Syrian Kurdistan will likely result in the worst atrocities of the next decade. Whether you’re a patriot, a sceptic or an agnostic in regards to US foreign policy, all evidence points towards genocide against a people that have been longstanding allies.

I don’t need to talk about Kurdistan’s loyalty and shared values with the West through multiple conflicts in the Middle East. I don’t have to talk about their continual persecution within Turkish borders or the horrors they have experienced from a multitude of sources across their ethnic homelands for decades – it is already written.

What I would like to explain is that what happened in Rwanda – the quickest, most efficient killing of humans in the shortest time span in human history – will likely be rapidly duplicated in Kurdistan.

I feel impotent – I don’t have a military background or experience. I don’t know what someone like me can tangibly do to save even a couple of lives that will undoubtedly be lost in this conflict. All I know is that if we all do nothing that humanity loses. And if democracy and the values that so many of us hold dear still mean something, they won’t after this.

Northern Ireland is a place that undoubtedly can relate to being disenfranchised and forgotten. I hope that some of the lessons learnt here and the expertise fostered through emerging from conflict can have some positive influence in Kurdistan – and quickly.

It’s easy to feel disenfranchised everyday – many of us feel this way. But, imagine you’re already under the threat of annihilation from most of your neighbours and a highly capable army is headed towards you and yours, and the support you’ve relied upon for two decades simply doesn’t exist any longer.

This is what is happening and, if it can be allowed to happen in this capacity in Kurdistan, who’s to say it couldn’t happen in much more familiar places in the near future?

So, what do we do?

I don’t have the answer, but I hope the answer isn’t nothing…