The blockade in Kobanê continues despite the ceasefire. The population is facing serious difficulties sixth both healthcare and basic living needs. As access to medicines and medical equipment becomes increasingly difficult in the city, the treatment of illnesses is growing harder. Doctors have stated that they often cannot even access a single syringe and have called for support.
Applications submitted by the Turkish Medical Association (TTB) and the Health and Social Service Workers’ Union (SES) to the Ministry of Health have yielded no results, while calls to allow medical aid to pass through the border gate have gone unanswered.
Stressing that this is a matter of humanity and that health cannot be subject to bargaining, Muhammet Çan called for the opening of the Mürşitpınar Border Gate.
Right to health cannot be bargained for
In his statement, Muhammet Çan said: “This concerns human dignity, because this is a right to health. Children with fever being unable to access medicine, dialysis patients being unable to receive treatment, or a patient with bleeding being unable to obtain medication is a humanitarian catastrophe for us. As healthcare workers, we cannot remain silent in the face of this.”
Çan stated that physicians who have taken the Hippocratic Oath and all healthcare workers engaged in this struggle will not remain indifferent to this situation, adding that the issue cannot be framed as a matter of one people or one identity.
“This is not a matter of whether a Kurd chooses to be sensitive or not,” Çan said, adding: “This concerns the dignity of the entire world. Wherever it occurs, when we say ‘war is, in itself, a public health issue,’ we do not define a war directed at Kurds as a separate public health issue. War itself is a public health issue, and we saw its consequences just last week with the deaths of six children.”
Çan continued: “Six children died from freezing. The reason they froze to death is war, and one must not be a party to it. However, remaining neutral is also a way of taking sides. Not opening the Mürşitpınar Gate, without even debating whether this is neutrality or partisanship, directly results in taking a side. Not opening the gate, delaying its opening, or taking slow steps in this direction makes one a part of the tragedy unfolding there.”
Life corridor is a necessity
Calling on the authorities, Çan stressed that the right to health cannot be postponed and said: “Health cannot be bargained for. Health is not an area where strategies can be built by taking sides. Our call is to the entire public in Turkey, the Kurdish public, and all the peoples of the Middle East. War is a public health issue, and under siege conditions created by war, opening a life corridor is not a demand but a necessity. We do not accept a mindset that views medicine as an aid. Medicine is not an aid; it is a necessity. Can there be bargaining over delivering medicine to a child? This is what we are saying.”
Responsibility lies with those who remain silent
Stating that healthcare workers are part of this struggle on the ground, Çan said: “People’s right to life, health, and treatment is being obstructed at this point. This clearly leads us to a discussion of war crimes. However, international institutions and states remain silent. Turkey, by not opening the gate, is becoming a party to this war. Kurds are not the orphans of this world. They are a people, and they are carrying out their own struggle.”
Syringes are hard to find
Emphasizing that turning the process into a matter of bargaining at this stage is unacceptable, Çan said: “After this awareness has been created, continuing to bargain is shameful from a humanitarian perspective. Delaying this or turning it into an issue that requires justification is unacceptable.”
“We do not have direct, one-on-one communication with doctors and healthcare workers in Kobanê; however, we have information obtained through social media and data coming from the field. According to this information, even the most basic emergency needs cannot be met. Access to syringes has become difficult. Access to antipyretics and dialysis kits is severely limited. Even emergency surgeries can only be carried out in very limited numbers,” he stated.