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By the Rojava Report:
Enwer Muslim, President of the Kobanê Canton, visists YPG/YPJ fighters at the front; pic Rojava Report
The KCK and the Rojava Cantons Coordinating Body have called upon all of the youth and patriots of Kurdistan to mobilize in defense of Kobanê, according to an article from ANF carried by Özgür Gündem. The Kobanê Canton is under a sustained attack from forces belonging to the Islamic State of Iraq and Sham (ISIS), who are employing heavy weapons and military equipment captured in their recent successes in Iraq.
A planned assault
As reported in Özgür Gündem, the ISIS attack on Kobanê is part of a larger plan drawn up by the United States, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Israel, Turkey and the KDP together with elements of the former İraqi Baath regime to challenge the balance of power in the Middle East, and was agreed to at a meeting of representatives of these various powers in Amman on June 1st. The ISIS has been attempting to advance on Kobanê sporadically since March, but the attacks have intensified significantly over the past week.
KCK calls for general mobilisation
The KCK Co-Presidency released a call for mobilization to defend Rojava in the wake of the recent attacks, saying “our patriotic people from all the parts of Kurdistan should heed the canton’s administrations call for mobilization and support the resistance knowing that is a duty of national honor.” The statement also touched on the covert support ISIS receives by various international actors, and said that “everyone must mobilize for Kobanê…at a moment when ISIS attacks on Kobanê are increasing and the legal recognition and protection of the Kurds is of the utmost importance no person, organization or group who claims to be against ISIS or calls itself a patriotic or Kurdish should remain silent or without a position. It is necessary for Kurds and patriots to form one front against ISIS and to declare their position openly by taking a side in protecting the existence and freedom of our people. Our people will certainly view all those Kurds and patriots who will not do this with suspicion and will express that attitude.”
The Rojava Cantons Coordinating Body also called on Kurds to be ready to defend Rojava and its people. In response to this call the KCK statement declared “we declare that all our forces are by their side. We call on the patriot youth in North Kurdistan, and all the resistance youth and people of the South, Rojava and the East Kurdistan to heed this call and recognize it as a duty of national honor and to participate to the highest degree.”
The Rojava Cantons Coordinating Body’s statement spoke of current ISIS attacks against the villages of Zormixar, Boraz, Dugirman and El-Beyazê, saying “the massacres carried out by these gangs are directed at changing the demography of the region, dividing it, and subjecting it to darkness and destruction.” The statement went on to read that “we will give our full support to the call for mobilization. All the organizations, administrations and unions within each of the three cantons as well as their political and military forces are ready to defend the people of the Kobanê region.”
An old enemy with a new mask
The Legislative Assembly of the Cizîrê Canton issued a common declaration in front of the government building in Amûde in which it condemned the ISIS attacks against Kobanê. The co-President of the Legislative Assembly Hekem Xelo, speaking in the name of all the members of the assembly, declared that the success of Kobanê would mean the success of all Kurdistan and declared that the assembly would do everything in its power to defend the people of Kobanê. The President of the Cizîre Canton Ekrem Hiso said “the old enemies of the Kurds are attacking under a new mask in order to destroy the Kurds. We will resist until the end.”
A Day of Honor
Following the call for mobilization, many older men in Kobanê came together to say they were ready to take to the front to defend their country. A 62-year citizen named Mihemed Bozan told ANF that “we will not allow the ISIS gangs who have drunk from the blood of our martyrs to occupy our country. No matter what comes we will never surrender our land to the gangs.” 60 year-old Ehmed Hemdan added “we have a debt of honor to defend these lands that have been watered with the blood of our martyrs.” Many residents of Kobanê are flooding to the Self-Defense Ministry to take up arms.
