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| Peshmerga went to Kobanî through Kurdish cities in Turkey. |
Kobanê, the city which has been
besieged by IS(IS) militants for 45 days, is already a(nother) symbol for the
Kurds’ union. What happened in Shengal was a rather disappointing case for some
Kurds –at least at the beginning-because of the withdrawal of Peshmerga forces.
Many Yazidi Kurds had to leave the land where they had lived for thousands of
years. Many of them had been killed by extremist jihadist IS(IS) militants,
some of the elderly and children died on the way because of hunger and thirst.
Then YPG/HPG guerillas together with Peshmerga forces fought back the jihadist
and were able to save some places and people. Even though there were some small
collaborative practices, Kurdish organizations and parties still seemed not to
be very keen on improving this collaboration and were blaming each other for
this.
Before the Kurds got over the Shengal
process and what happened around that- displaced people, taking care of them
etc.- Kobane, the city in a Kurdish region in Syria (Rojava), had been attacked
by IS(IS) militants. In the beginning, PYD and the YPG forces probably thought
that they would force the jihadists to withdraw in a few days. On the other
hand, according to statements by its newly elected president R. Tayyip Erdogan,
Turkey wanted to play ‘deaf and blind’ about what happened in Kobane. In
addition, there were allegations that Turkey was helping jihadists.
The more the resistance of the
Kurdish militants grew, the higher the number of displaced and immigrant people
from Kobane, and the longer Turkey’s silence and inaction continued, the more
intense became the anger among Kurds. In addition to the actions undertaken by
Kurds, the solidarity actions for Kobane got wider all around the world.
Kurdish YPG/YPJ militants’
‘unexpected’ –(in the sense of what the neighboring country, especially Turkey,
was thinking) resistance and not letting the city fall down, grew thoughts
about unification –at least collaboration-, which Kurdish people already had,
among different Kurdish groups and parties. After attempts from Kurdistan
Regional Goverment and its president Masoud Barzani, coaliton forces started to
bomb the jihadists’ bases and eased the Kurdish YPG/YPJ forces defending Kobane
for 45 days. The rest is known. Meetings and negotiations between different
political parties from Rojava in Dohuk, led by KRG’s president Masoud Barzani,
and an agreement on how the governance should be in Rojava.
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| Peshmerga's passing excited the Kurds in those cities. |
There was also an
agreement about Peshmerga forces going to Kobane with the heavy weapons to
fight with jihadist IS(IS) militants. Peshmerga forces had to use Turkey’s land
to cross Kobane. But as the President had already stated, Turkey’s first option
was members of the Free Syrian Army, not Peshmerga. After negotiations about
how many Peshmerga forces should cross, and which route they should use,
yesterday (28.10.2014) a small group of Peshmerga left Arbil for Kobane.
Hearing this news excited Kurds in Turkey and flooded -so to say- to
Khabur gate between Turkey and Kurdistan Regional Goverment in Silopi, district
of Şırnak Province, to welcome them.
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| Kurdish women on the Silk Roaf waiting for the Peshmerga with red-green-yellow flamas and Abdullah Ocalan's poster. |
When a symbolic amount of Peshmerga
forces passed the Khabur gate there were Kurds waiting for them from the night
and welcomed them with waving the Kurdistan Regional Goverment’s official flags
and also PKK’s, YPG’s flags and the imprisoned Kurdish leader, Abdullah
Ocalan’s, poster. The scene was the same every route they passed. Thousands of
Kurds were on both sides of the road also known as ‘Silk Road’, waving the
red-green-yellow flags, flamas, and the vehicles also beeped to greet the
people waiting to welcome and greet Peshmerga. 
Once again, Kurds showed their
enthusiasm about the ‘unification’ of Kurds, truely saying Kurdish Political
Organizations, if not at least colloboration between them. Nusaybin, in which
the photos are taken, is also a distrcit on the ‘Silk Road’ and was on the road
of passing Peshmerga. Thousands of people started gathering on the road as soon
as they heard that peshmerga forces had left Cizre. One old women were saying
that her three sons were guerillas and two of them already martyr, and added that
she was there because they (Peshmerga) were also Kurds and going to fight for
freedom like her sons did. So she was there to welcome them, to greet them.
Another man was quoting that ‘today is a historical day for Kurds, because brothers
are going to Kobani for helping their brothers’. The other man next to him were
ironicly speaking ‘today our repuclic festival’ referring to anniversary
official founding day of the Repuclic of Turkey which is 29th of October. |
| Some man with KRG's official flag. |
Another was saying that he had come
from Batman, another Kurdish city which is 130 km’s far from Nusaybin, to
welcomed the Peshmerga forces.
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| It was so crowded that convoy could hardly proceed. |
Youths were trying to have pictures with Peshmerga, someone just wanted to shake their hand. Peshmerga seemed also so excited, some of them were replying the slogans just with the victory signs, while other were busy with taking pictures of this historic moment with their mobile phones. From one side of Nusaybin till the other it is around 2-3 km’s, and it took their convoy more than one hour to pass Nusaybin. This is just a clue for you to imagine the scene in Nusaybin.
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The peshmerga forces are a symbolic amount which consist of just 150 people with some heavy weapons but their effect is much more than that. Their going to help the resister of Kobani, the fighter of YPG/YPJ forces means much more to all Kurds. It can be a starting point for ‘unification’ or at least colloboration, which Kurds have already shown, between Kurdish political parties.
29.10.2014
Nisêbîn /Mêrdîn
Some more pictures from the Peshmerga passing from Nîsêbîn (Nusaybin in Turkish).
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| Youths were in front of the convoy. |
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| Women along with the convoy.. |
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| People accompanied Peshmerga's convoy until the exit of the city. |
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| And some followed the convoy with their otomobiles... |
© Necat Keskin 2014
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