Kobane is the Syrian Kurds’ Halabja, says analyst
"To me what makes Kobane interesting is one day we will look back and say that for Syrian and Turkish Kurds, Kobane is what Halabja is for Iraqi Kurds," said Henri Barkey, a member of the Turkey initiative of Washington’s Bipartisan Policy Center think tank.
He was referring to the town in Iraqi Kurdistan where some 5,000 were killed in a chemical weapons attack by Saddam Hussein’s forces in 1988, and which became a symbol of the struggle of the Kurds for their rights.
"The paradox is that, the longer the siege lasts, the more important Kobane becomes because it becomes the (symbol) of resistance. Whether it remains in the hands of the Kurds or falls to ISIS, one way or another, I think Kobane will be another Halabja." Barkey told a forum here on Tuesday.
"Halabja is a part of nation-building symbols like all nations have symbols. Halabja is one of them. If you go to Israel. You go to Yad Vashem (Holocaust museum).”
"Halabja has the same connotation for the Kurds. When you go there, you are given the tour and this is what made the KRG what it is today and solidified Iraqi Kurdish nationalism. I think Kobane will have the same impact down the road for Turkish and Syrian Kurds."
Barkey considered the role of women in confronting ISIS in Kobane as another contributing factor towards recognition of Kurdish autonomy in Syria.
"One of the very important aspects of Kobane resistance is the role of women, that the operations are led by women. There is a narrative that's being developed about Kobane. I think one day you go back and say that Kobane was a very defining moment."
But he said that Kobane was a big issue for Turkey, because of links between the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and the Syrian-Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD). The PKK fought a three decades bloody war with Ankara.
"Especially when they are in negotiations with the PKK and [Abdullah] Ocalan [PKK leader] for some kind of solution for Kurdish problem, the emergence of an autonomous region in northern Syria is too much to bear strategically."
"Everyday that goes by, the resistance in Kobane actually strengthens the Syrian Kurds. In the end, Turkey faces a more powerful Syrian Kurdish movement.
Eric Edelman, former US Ambassador to Turkey, who is co-chair of the Turkey initiative and a former under-secretary of defence policy, agreed that PYD is a problem for Turkey in the long run.
"The Turkish government sees ISIS as a problem, but not as the worst problem they face,” he said. “A Lot of Turks think that ISIS is as a bunch of misguided Muslim youth, [but] they are not as big a problem as the PKK," he said.
The experts agreed that the biggest fear of Ankara is to have another Kurdish region similar to the Kurdistan Region in Iraq in Syrian Kurdistan, as it would push Kurds in Turkey to ask for similar power-sharing arrangement.
"That’s a very important strategic problem for Turkey. Any Turkish government wants to stop that," Barkey believed.
Rudaw
