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Rudaw, Iraqi Kurdistan
Oct 19 2014
Europe's Kurds stand up for 'Kurdish Stalingrad'
By Deniz Serinci
STOCKHOLM, Sweden - The fate of Kobane, whose bitter struggle has been
relayed live to television screens around the world, has spurred
Europe's Kurds to action in support of the besieged town.
The defenders of the small Syrian border town have, with forgivable
hyperbole, dubbed it the "Kurdish Stalingrad", and in rallies across
Europe their fellow Kurds have sought to cast the outcome of the
battle as a turning point in Kurdish history.
"This is the first time in 30 years that our fight drew so much
positive attention from the European public," Yüksel Koc of the
German-Kurdish Federation told Firatnews. "It is thanks to Kobane's
resistance."
One element in the worldwide attention on Kobane is the fact that the
town is hard by the Turkish border where international camera crews
have lined up, alongside motionless Turkish tanks, to cover the nearby
conflict.
The battle has included a daily and growing number of U.S.-backed
coalition air strikes that have contributed to holding off what once
looked like the town's inevitable fall to its ISIS attackers.
Kurds in Europe also claim credit for having established Kobane
internationally as a symbol of resistance.
Across Europe, Kurds have been staging protests at parliament
buildings, announcing hunger strikes, and lobbying politicians to take
action to save Kobane.
"At the rallies and demonstrations, the whole world stood up for the
Kurds," Jiyan Behrozy from Kermanshah in Iran, told Rudaw.
"The whole world saw in black and white who is right and who is wrong
in this war," said Behrozy, who now lives in Stockholm.
But she wants the world to do more. "I am here today to send the
outside world a message that it should act tougher against the
fundamentalists in ISIS, who opposes democracy and freedom," she said
during a rally in the Swedish capital.
With slogans such as "Stop IS Terror in Kurdistan", "Save Kobane" and
"Long live Chairman Apo", a reference to Abdullah Ocalan, jailed
leader of Turkey's banned Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), the
protesters called on the international community to arm Kobane's
defenders.
These are mainly the Peoples' Protection Units (YPG), the armed
militia of Syrian Kurdistan's PYD, itself an offshoot of the PKK.
At a demonstration in the Swedish city of Goteborg, Shadiye Heydari, a
Kurdish Social Democratic member of the Swedish Parliament, said she
wanted to see a United Nationa mandate to provide humanitarian and
military assistance to those fighting to halt ISIS.
"The UN Security Council has responsibility for international peace
and security," she said. "Sweden has provided humanitarian assistance
and will continue to do so."
In the Finnish capital Helsinki, Finns joined Kurds in a march to the
foreign ministry to demand military support to the YPG. In London,
protestors entered the lobby of Parliament and lay down to represent
the dead of Kobane. In Paris, French, Armenian and Algerian protesters
joined Kurds in a rally at the Place de la Bastille.
With the resistance of Kobane against the ISIS onslaught now in its
second month, the level of support among Kurds in Europe shows no sign
of flagging.
http://rudaw.net/english/world/19102014
From: A. Papazian
Oct 19 2014
Europe's Kurds stand up for 'Kurdish Stalingrad'
By Deniz Serinci
STOCKHOLM, Sweden - The fate of Kobane, whose bitter struggle has been
relayed live to television screens around the world, has spurred
Europe's Kurds to action in support of the besieged town.
The defenders of the small Syrian border town have, with forgivable
hyperbole, dubbed it the "Kurdish Stalingrad", and in rallies across
Europe their fellow Kurds have sought to cast the outcome of the
battle as a turning point in Kurdish history.
"This is the first time in 30 years that our fight drew so much
positive attention from the European public," Yüksel Koc of the
German-Kurdish Federation told Firatnews. "It is thanks to Kobane's
resistance."
One element in the worldwide attention on Kobane is the fact that the
town is hard by the Turkish border where international camera crews
have lined up, alongside motionless Turkish tanks, to cover the nearby
conflict.
The battle has included a daily and growing number of U.S.-backed
coalition air strikes that have contributed to holding off what once
looked like the town's inevitable fall to its ISIS attackers.
Kurds in Europe also claim credit for having established Kobane
internationally as a symbol of resistance.
Across Europe, Kurds have been staging protests at parliament
buildings, announcing hunger strikes, and lobbying politicians to take
action to save Kobane.
"At the rallies and demonstrations, the whole world stood up for the
Kurds," Jiyan Behrozy from Kermanshah in Iran, told Rudaw.
"The whole world saw in black and white who is right and who is wrong
in this war," said Behrozy, who now lives in Stockholm.
But she wants the world to do more. "I am here today to send the
outside world a message that it should act tougher against the
fundamentalists in ISIS, who opposes democracy and freedom," she said
during a rally in the Swedish capital.
With slogans such as "Stop IS Terror in Kurdistan", "Save Kobane" and
"Long live Chairman Apo", a reference to Abdullah Ocalan, jailed
leader of Turkey's banned Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), the
protesters called on the international community to arm Kobane's
defenders.
These are mainly the Peoples' Protection Units (YPG), the armed
militia of Syrian Kurdistan's PYD, itself an offshoot of the PKK.
At a demonstration in the Swedish city of Goteborg, Shadiye Heydari, a
Kurdish Social Democratic member of the Swedish Parliament, said she
wanted to see a United Nationa mandate to provide humanitarian and
military assistance to those fighting to halt ISIS.
"The UN Security Council has responsibility for international peace
and security," she said. "Sweden has provided humanitarian assistance
and will continue to do so."
In the Finnish capital Helsinki, Finns joined Kurds in a march to the
foreign ministry to demand military support to the YPG. In London,
protestors entered the lobby of Parliament and lay down to represent
the dead of Kobane. In Paris, French, Armenian and Algerian protesters
joined Kurds in a rally at the Place de la Bastille.
With the resistance of Kobane against the ISIS onslaught now in its
second month, the level of support among Kurds in Europe shows no sign
of flagging.
http://rudaw.net/english/world/19102014
From: A. Papazian