BY truck, cart, mule and mostly on foot, they made their way along twisting roads and dirt tracks from Kurdish cities and up into the hills. It’s long been said that the unofficial motto of the Kurdish people, is that the Kurds “have no friends but the mountains”. But during those bleak weeks back in 1991 as virtually the entire Kurdish population of northern Iraq fled towards the Turkish and Iranian borders, the mountains were as pitilessly cruel to them as Saddam Hussein’s Republican Guard.

Bitterly cold, hungry and many suffering from exposure and dysentery, in those same “friendly” mountains I watched as Kurds, especially children, died and were often buried where they fell. This vast flood of humanity, several million strong, had been forced into their mass exodus after the Kurds with US encouragement, had risen up against Saddam’s dictatorship.

Neither for the first time nor the last, they were to be abandoned. American military aid never materialised and the Kurds were slaughtered in their thousands.

Right now in scenes grimly reminiscent of 1991, but this time in Syria, the Kurds are fleeing again, not that you would notice, given the absence of any major news coverage. Only the death of Anna Campbell, a 26-year-old British woman volunteer killed while fighting with the all-female Kurdish armed YPJ unit in the Syrian north western city of Afrin, fleetingly brought into the headlines what is going on there this week.

Sad as news of Ms Campbell’s death is, were she alive, doubtless she would be among the first of those to draw attention to the plight of some 200,000 civilians, most of them Kurds, who have escaped the city which was overrun last week by Turkish troops and their allied fighters.

Seeing the video footage that did emerge from Afrin of the pro-Turkish Islamist militiamen who tore down statues of Kurdish figures and rampaged their way through city streets, they seemed to bear an uncomfortable resemblance to the jihadist fighters that for so long worked alongside the Islamic State (IS) group. Now with the acquiescence of Britain and America’s Nato “ally”, Turkey, they are back in control of this part of northern Syria.

If there is a sense of deja vu about all this, it’s matched only by the familiarity of seeing the Kurds having been here many times before. How often now have they fought for survival while their friends – beyond the mountains – among the Western powers have stood aside and watched?

What makes this all the more galling is that time and again the Kurds have shown themselves to be good allies in the region. Backed by a Western-led military coalition, it wasn’t that long ago that the UK and US governments along with other Western powers was singing the praises of the Kurdish peshmerga forces in Iraq while working effectively alongside their counterparts within neighbouring Syria to battle the threat of IS. To be sure, the vagaries of realpolitik do not lend themselves to lasting friendships in such situations, and goodness knows the dynamics of events in northwest Syria have become even more complex with Turkey’s military campaign there. For its part the Americans made clear months ago that Afrin was in the Russian-controlled zone and Washington wouldn’t intervene there.

But now, following Afrin’s fall, Washington and Ankara have been brought closer to a showdown in the region, with all eyes now on the town of Manbij, which is controlled by the predominantly Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and its US military advisers. In Manbij some 2,000 US soldiers fight alongside the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) and the SDF.

With Turkey demanding that the Americans and the Kurds withdraw to east of the Euphrates River, the big question now is what happens next?

One thing is certain, should Washington concede to Turkey’s demands and leave the Kurds high and dry it would be a shameful episode.

First, it would constitute yet another disgraceful abandonment of some of the bravest and most committed fighters and allies who have shown their mettle against the jihadists of IS.

Secondly, it would leave the region at the mercy of Turkey’s proxy Islamist militiamen, who, if what they left in their wake in Afrin is anything to go by, would only sow more chaos and let jihadists in by the back door to an area the Kurds fought long and hard to deprive them of.

The choice is stark. Either show support for the radical experiment in direct democracy that the coalition of ethnic groups led by the Kurds has shown in the area of northwestern Syria known as Rojava, or let Islamist-inspired militiamen with a dubious record of allegiances gain a foothold again.

It’s a measure of where the Kurds stand that the region of Afrin while under their control has been a safe haven for up to 400,000 internally displaced Syrians, who are not just Kurds, but Sunni Arabs, Assyrians, Yazidis and others.

Sure, there will be those critics who will argue that the Kurds’ democratic rhetoric is just that, rhetoric, and behind it lurks a separatists and nationalist agenda. While that might well be the case, I know whom I would rather back in terms of creating something good out of the chaos going on in the region.

This week Kurds celebrated the festival of Newroz (also called Nowruz), that marks the spring equinox. The festival has long been a mark of national pride for Kurds. Though usually a time of happiness and goodwill, events in Afrin have left this year’s Newroz tinged with sadness, frustration and in some cases anger.

Once again the Kurds are fleeing. Once again the world stands by and watches.

For years now the Kurds have shown themselves committed to taking on dictators like Saddam Hussein and confronting the jihadists of IS.

In that time they have done much of the West’s dirty work fighting in their own backyard and with great sacrifice. Willing to shed their own blood they rarely ask others to do it on their behalf.

For far too long they have been used to serve the interests of major powers, only to be cast aside when these interests change.

At the very highest diplomatic levels the time has come to return the support the Kurds have long shown us and prove to them they do have friends beyond the mountains.