After ISIS had expanded its presence into northern and eastern Syria and initiated an assault on Kobanê in September 2014, the extremist group had captured most of the city by 2 October, but the siege of the city was met with fierce resistance by local Kurdish fighters.
On 22 September, Abdullah Öcalan issued a warning from İmralı Island Prison. “The fall of Kobanê means the fall of all Kurdistan,” he said, calling on everyone to “act according to this reality”.
The town’s plight captured the world’s attention, prompting numerous individuals and organisations to take action and many notable figures joined together to sign a declaration expressing solidarity with Kobanê.
Tens of thousands of people across the globe rallied for Kobane on 1 November 2014, which was announced as ‘World Kobanê Day‘.
On the occasion of the 10th anniversary of World Kobanê Day, we publish part two of our interview with Sefkan Kobanê, one of the Kurdish fighters of the resistance of Kobanê and author of the book ‘Kobanê Resistance Diary’, which sheds light on how the historic victory over ISIS was achieved.
In the part two of his exclusive interview with Medya News, Sefkan Kobanê tells us about the most important happenings in the Kobanê resistance and the Turkish state’s collaboration with ISIS.
Enjoy reading part two of the interview:
Medya News:
Thank you. We will move on to the third question: How can we describe the strategic importance of the city of Kobanê? And what are the most important events and actions in the process of resistance and protection of Kobanê?
Sefkan Kobanê:
The city of Kobanê was the city in Rojava (North and East Syria) where the Rojava revolution began. Kobanê was the place where the thoughts of the leader Apo [Öcalan] set foot for the first time. In 1979, Rêber [meaning guide, or teacher] Apo came to Kobanê for the first time and crossed from Northern Kurdistan [southeast Turkey] to Rojava. So Kobanê was an important symbol and value. The leader Apo had created a great organisation there, there was a political society, a society that knew its natural defence. They wanted to destroy the 19 July revolution which began there. The revolution of Rojava, the revolution of the people, the international revolution and society developed there. In January 2014, the canton of Kobanê was announced as the smallest canton of Rojava. After the declaration of the canton, the Turkish state and especially Al-Nusra, the Muslim Brotherhood, the mercenaries of the Turkish state, gradually began to attack.
The biggest attack was on 15 September 2014, led by ISIS, they attacked Kobanê from all four sides. From the side of Jarablus (Cerablûs), from the side of Manbij [Minbic], from the side of Girê Spî [Tell Abyad], from Reqa [Raqqa], they attacked Kobanê on all lines. They took their tanks, their big artillery, they took Raqqa, they took Mosul, it was a very big and heavy attack. And there was a great resistance against them. Because if the revolution there had been defeated, if the revolution there had been destroyed, the Afrin revolution, then Cizîre, all the revolutions would have been finished.
That is why Leader Apo called for mobilisation. Leader Apo said: “You have to protect Kobanê. Kobanê is the key to the protection of Kurdistan. If Kobanê fails, Northern Kurdistan (Turkish Kurdistan) will also fail and the whole revolution will fail. No matter what happens, you will defend the revolution and Kobanê. And defeat ISIS, because ISIS is a great evil, a great barbarity against the whole humanity and all societies of the Middle East, and for this you have to raise resistance against it.” And Kobanê was a symbol of this.
Kobanê was small, there were only a few streets left, all the places had fallen into the hands of ISIS, so it was a narrow place, but there was a spirit, there was a will, there was a belief, there was an idea. And the whole of humanity supported it with its spirit, its conscience and its morality. And on the border of Northern Kurdistan and in Northern Kurdistan, in the four parts of Kurdistan, in Cizira (Cizîre), Efrin (Afrin), there was support and especially the guerrilla fighters of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), the People’s Defence Forces (HPG), they came to help. Because help was needed, they came from Botan, Gabar, Merdin [Mardin], Diyarbakır [Amed], Dersim [all places in Southeast Turkey], these self-sacrificing heroes like Martyr Gelhat, like Arin, they all came and helped. They had a great resistance and role in the liberation of Kobanê. That is why we must always remember their heroism.
Medya News:
Thank you again. We move on to the fourth question: at the time of the annexation of Syria by ISIS, how can the attitude of the Turkish state towards the Kurdish people be described?
Sefkan Kobanê:
When ISIS captured Mosul in 2014 and slowly moved towards Sinjar, they entered Sinjar on 3 August 2014 and committed a massacre in Sinjar. During the massacre, all of Sinjar was evacuated, only 12 HPG vehicles stayed there and protected it, and after that, ISIS moved towards Raqqa. They came, took Raqqa as their capital and went on to Damascus. The Iraqi state could not stop ISIS when they were moving towards Baghdad, and Syria could not stop them when they were moving towards Damascus.
Both states could not. The states were defeated. However, the Turkish state supported the Muslim Brotherhood in its policy for a new Ottoman Empire. In Mosul, when it was taken, the Turkish base was still there. They said they were captured, but later it was found that the Turkish embassy was collaborating with ISIS. Before that, they met in Jordan, where the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), Turkey and ISIS had a joint project.
What was their project? To occupy Iraq, Syria and Kurdistan and divide them among themselves. The Turkish state led them, Erdoğan led them. Then they came to Kobanê. Later, many ISIS members were arrested and imprisoned, they said we were going to Damascus, but the Turkish state insisted and forced us to go to Kobanê. The Turkish state said: “You are going towards the Kurds, destroy the Kurds.”
The Turkish state supported ISIS with its policy. The Turkish state was supporting ISIS at the border. There were train lines passing by transporting weapons and other aid for ISIS. The videos of these scenes were in the hands of all the newspapers of the world. The cooperation between the Turkish army and ISIS on the Turkish border. These videos were published, how they helped and supported ISIS at the border. The biggest ISIS terrorists were passing through Turkey and Turkey was passing them on to Kobanê. Therefore, the cooperation of the Turkish state with ISIS was 100% clear. The enmity against the Kurdish people was created by the hands of the Turkish state.
