Seven years ago, the liberation of Kobane

Seven years have passed since the liberation of Kobanê. The strategic battle of Kobanê took place between 15 September 2014 and 26-27 January 2015, when it was liberated.

THE SIEGE OF KOBANÊ

ISIS mercenaries launched the first attack on the city of Kobanê on the night between 14 and 15 September. The siege would last till 26-27 January 2015. Those months of battle would witness a defense of the values of humanity with an epic spirit of self-sacrifice which has gone down in history.

On 15 September morning, ISIS launched an attack on the southern front. Differently from the previous simultaneous attacks from all three fronts, ISIS gangs now deployed arms and militants on the southeastern and southwestern parts too, and started an offensive from five fronts.

‘WE ARE GOING TO WIN THIS WAR’

It didn’t take long to see the dimension of this offensive. YPG/YPJ commanders were now understanding that this was not an ordinary attack and occupation move and witnessed a technical and numeral inequality at an awesome level. As ISIS gangs launched this offensive with all their forces and weapons in Syria, it became clear that their aim was to ensure an entire occupation of Kobanê in a short time. YPJ Commander Meryem Kobane was making this fastening; “This will not be an ordinary battle but a confrontation between the male-dominant sovereign savagery and the spiritual power and will of democratic modernity. We are going to win this war.”

ARİN MİRKAN BECOMES A SYMBOL IN MISHTENUR

Mishtenur Hill was hit by heavy weapons and tanks, and clashes broke out between the gang groups that infiltrated the hill and the YPG/YPJ fighters. The Mishtenur Hill is sacred ground for the people of Kobanê, and it witnessed the sacred resistance of the YPG and YPJ fighters. The hill fell under ISIS control on October 5, after days of heroic resistance against heavy attacks on the hill. YPJ Commander Arin Mirkan was furious that Mishtenur Hill fell under ISIS control. She thought the gangs needed to be hit hard in Mishtenur, and decided to carry out a sacrifice action. She prepared for the action in great resolve, and expertly infiltrated the gangs. She arrived at their gathering point, and there detonated the explosives on her person, killing dozens of gang members. The ISIS gangs had arrived in the city, but they got into a panic and fear in the face of the resistance up to that point and the sacrifice. As the ISIS gangs advanced, they lost their faith that “it would be handled in a week”, and had come to understand that they would go through hell in Kobanê.

“HELL FOR ISIS”

After Miştenur, the gangs started to enter the Kaniya Kurda neighborhood from the east. To the west, the Izae Hill had fallen under gang control and the YPG/YPJ fighters had taken positions in the trenches dug by Til Sheir Hill and further. To the south, the gangs had reached the Martyr Dicle Cemetery, close to the city entrance.

During those days, YPJ commander Meryem Kobane said: “ISIS will now enter the city through Kaniya Kurda. But this city will be hell for ISIS. They will be kicked right out of Kaniya Kurda.”

The resistance was taken into the city at that point. When Kobanê did not fall within a week, the Turkish media and the AKP government attempted to create an air that “if ISIS reaches the city center, Kobanê will have fallen automatically, there will be no resistance”. Because the then-Prime Minister, current President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had expressed his expectations and wishes that “Kobanê is about to fall” when ISIS started entering the city. Erdoğan was veritably wringing his hands and expressing this desire, and YPJ General Commander Meysa Ebdo responded to it: “Kobanê will fall only in his dreams. The resistance is just starting now, Kobanê will be hell for ISIS and its supporters.”

With ISIS entering the city, Meysa Ebdo’s words came to pass with the superhuman resistance and heroism of YPJ and YPG commanders and fighters.

In the first three months of the resistance, the YPG and YPJ fighters displayed a resistance, and it was time for the YPG/YPJ commanders and fighters to launch the process in Kaniya Kurda that would lead to declaring Kobanê the hell of ISIS. The launch happened in early December, in the form of the Kobanê Emancipation Operation.

OPERATION TIME

The operation process had begun in Kobanê, the YPG and YPJ fighters had abandoned the defensive after a long time and were gearing up for operation mode. That created great morale and enthusiasm. The YPG/YPJ fighters cleared most of the city of gangs in a short time with this morale and enthusiasm, and in the end reached the Miştenur Hill and realized the dreams of martyrs Givara, Cudi, Dicle and many other Kobanê martyrs. After Miştenur, the second large scale maneuver was the southern front operation. This operation cleared the gangs completely from this front.

ALL READY FOR THE FINAL BLOW

On the second day of the operation, Eastern front commander Mazlum Kobanê said, “We will herald freedom in 4 streets”, and that is what happened. On the third day of the operation, preparations were completed to deliver the final, fatal blow to ISIS gangs. The declaration of the city’s freedom would be in time for the anniversary of the canton declaration, January 27.

OPERATION STARTED

The Kaniya Kurda operation then started.  Some hours into the operation, chants started to come through the radio, “Biji Serok Apo”, “Biji Berxwedane Kobanê” – one fighter jumped up in joy: “Friends have taken Kaniya Kurda!”

Kobanê was to be declared free after Kaniya Kurda was taken. The fighters were restless with excitement. It wasn’t easy. For more than four months, they fought tooth and nail, finger on trigger at all times, through the cold, with no sleep, little food, insufficient ammunition. Always insisting on living freely, marching towards death, a resistance almost defying the laws of nature. They fought against better weapons, better logistics, better numbers and inhumane methods.

YPG FLAG FLEW IN KANIYA KURDA

The YPG and YPJ fighters rushed to the Kaniya Kurda Hill to put up a giant YPG flag, chanting “Biji Serok Apo” and “Biji Berxwedana Kobanê”. The giant flag was put up on Kaniya Kurda Hill. Posters of Kurdish People’s Leader Abdullah Öcalan had already been put up by the previous group of fighters.

After Meryem Kobane said “We will declare to the whole world on the Kaniya Kurda hill they entered the city from that Kobanê is hell for ISIS,” her words were made into reality on the 134th day of the relentless resistance. The Kobanê resistance created a divide into “Before Kobanê” and “After Kobanê”. History was interrupted in Kobanê, and was rewritten.