If Kurds lose in Kobane, will Turks win?

16.10.2014 Vatan
Translated by: Turgay BAYINDIR /
Orjinal Metin (tr-10/4/2014)

Lately, I have been reading warnings of “Tonight is very critical for Kobane” before going to bed every night and wake up every morning to check on the Internet with great anxiety whether this Syrian city which is mostly made up of Kurds has fallen to IS(IS) or not. I am sure I am not the only one. I also know that there are people who are more concerned about Kobane than I am. Our hearts are with the people of Kobane and the volunteer fighters who went to support them from other parts of Syria, from Turkey, Iraq, Iran and from Europe. Yet, just as we are cheered up with the news of the successes of the Kobane resistance, there are people in our country who are looking forward to the victory of IS(IS) in Kobane, and who are enraged by its delay. Some of them are those who hold a similar view of Islam and the world as IS(IS). There is nothing to say about them; they have simply made their alliances with the wrong side. But there are also those who have nothing to do with IS(IS) and who might even hate IS(IS) yet who still want Kobane to fall to IS(IS) with all their heart. They act with the premise of “let them kill each other” and since Kobane is currently controlled by PYD/YPG which follow a line similar to that of Abdullah Öcalan, they think that the fall of Kobane will also mean the defeat of PKK.

Would the resolution process end if Kobane falls?

It is a total blindness. There is no need to use scare tactics as some do such as “if Kobane falls Turkey will also fall”. Regardless of whether Kobane falls or not, Turkey is already among the targets of IS(IS) since we joined the international coalition against IS(IS). The argument that “if Kobane falls, the resolution process will end” might also not be very accurate because if we look at the recent statements by the HDP delegation, we see that even though Öcalan draws connections between Kobane and the resolution process, he does not completely tie the fate of the resolution process to Kobane. This much is a fact: if the AKP government wanted, they can easily eliminate the unequal distribution of arms between IS(IS) and YPG and prevent the fall of the city to IS(IS). Even though Prime Minister Davutoğlu has said to Selahattin Demirtaş that they “would not prefer Kobane’s fall”, as of the moment I was writing these lines, I have not witnessed any action taken by the government to this effect. Therefore, if Kobane falls and if IS(IS) commits a massacre in the city, Kurds would hold Ankara also responsible for it. In such a case even Öcalan might have difficulty keeping the Kurdish Political Movement (KPM) and the supporting masses within the resolution process. Even then, abandoning the process at the stage of “negotiation with the State” which took 30 years to achieve would not be easy at all for the KPM.

It is beyond PKK

While not forgetting the connection of Kobane to the resolution process, I believe that essentially what needs to be of primary concern is this: what is happening in Kobane has already gone beyond PYD/YPG and therefore PKK; it has become a concern for all Kurds. Therefore, those who have taken sides with IS(IS) in Kobane will no longer have the credentials to say to Kurds, “we are of the same flesh and blood, we are all brothers and sisters”. And going back to the question in the title of this article, if Kurds lose in Kobane, it will not mean a victory for Turks; it will rather mean, if this complacency continues, the loss of that often mentioned “Turk-Kurd brotherhood”.

Two final notes:
1.  Even in the instance of Kobane’s fall to IS(IS), it would be difficult to talk about an absolute loss for Kurds because an extremely unequal battle has been taking place right in front of the eyes of the whole world. The resistance fighters who have been defending the city for days despite the advantage of heavy artillery owned by IS(IS), will presumably not abandon fighting even if they lose Kobane.
2.  In case the resistance fighters manage to repel IS(IS) without a direct and intense intervention by the international coalition and/or Turkey, Kurds in general, and PKK in particular will be held in much higher esteem around the world.

Destek olmak ister misiniz?
Doğru haber, özgün ve özgür yorum ihtiyacı
Bugün dünyada gazeteciler birer aktivist olmaya zorlanıyor. Bu durum, kutuplaşmanın alabildiğine keskin olduğu Türkiye'de daha fazla karşımıza çıkıyor. Halbuki gazeteci, elinden geldiğince, doğru haber ile özgün ve özgür yorumla toplumun tüm kesimlerine ulaşmaya çalışmalı ve bu yolla, kutuplaşmayı artırma değil azaltmayı kendine hedef edinmeli. Devamı için

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