Attacks by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), ISIS and Turkish-state-affiliated mercenaries against Kobanê are continuing. All roads connecting the city to the outside world have been cut off, along with the complete suspension of fuel, electricity, water and medical supplies.
As a result of the siege and severe winter conditions, five children have lost their lives in the city, while another child was killed after being struck by an artillery shell. In the face of the rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation, civil society organizations and representatives of political parties called on the United Nations and the Council of Europe to assume responsibility. They also appealed to the international public to strengthen solidarity with the people of Kobanê.
Canan Demir, Chair of the Narin Yaşam Children’s Association, spoke to ANF about the situation in Kobanê and said that the ongoing process is in violation of international law. She said that the practices taking place in the region do not even comply with the ethics of war, adding that children, women and civilians are being directly targeted.
Not to remain silent in the face of the massacre
Canan Demir said that what is happening in Kobanê must be brought to an immediate end and that an urgent process must be launched at the international level without delay. Demir said: “We expect this to be stopped on the basis of international law and for immediate intervention to take place. While our children’s rights are guaranteed at the international level, we are witnessing deep sorrow that even their most basic needs are not being met. Our hope and wish are that this situation is eliminated as soon as possible and that our children gain access to human rights and opportunities. We have lost five children. What a horrific situation. Our children are being killed by freezing to death. How can a child’s right to life be taken away by allowing them to freeze?
No individual with a conscience and compassion should remain silent in the face of this. The way this situation is unfolding is truly terrifying. In addition to this, the killing of civilians, civilian children and civilian women is deeply distressing. We want this situation to come to an end within a framework where our children can live under the most appropriate conditions in line with human rights. We demand that their access to fundamental rights be ensured. Even having to demand the fulfillment of these rights is shameful, yet losing our children under these conditions causes an indescribably deep sorrow.”
A humanitarian corridor must be opened
Canan Demir said that the international public must take action to ensure the opening of a humanitarian corridor to Kobanê and continued as follows: “Does the world fall silent only when Kurds are the ones who die? How much longer will we be subjected to oppression, how much longer will we be massacred? How much longer will the international public remain silent in the face of our children’s deaths? When these rights are, in one way or another, guaranteed by the United Nations, how can such silence be reconciled with any sense of conscience? On what basis are we supposed to understand this situation? Honestly, I do not know.
This is a genocide. It is an attempt to erase the future of a Kurd. We are talking about children. What does it mean to kill a child? What does it mean to remain silent in the face of a child’s death? This shows that the United Nations is acting in a biased manner. When it comes to Kurdish people, all rights can be violated.
A humanitarian corridor to Kobanê must be opened immediately and as a matter of utmost urgency. For our people, our relatives and our brothers and sisters to gain access to their most basic needs as soon as possible, everyone around the world must act, act within the framework of universal law, and ensure that a humanitarian corridor is opened. Through this, access must be made possible to health care, food and all other fundamental rights.”