The Women’s Council of the Democratic Union Party (PYD) in the Euphrates region has called for an immediate end to the blockade of Kobanê. In a statement delivered on Sunday in front of the party’s city headquarters, council members denounced the humanitarian consequences of the ongoing siege imposed by troops and militias of the Syrian transitional government.
According to the statement, read out by council member Bedîa Miho, Kobanê has been in a state of acute emergency for three weeks. Approximately 600,000 people are currently present in and around Kobanê, according to local sources, including many internally displaced persons who had previously fled attacks in other parts of northeastern Syria and sought refuge in the region.
Many families originate from the rural areas surrounding Kobanê, which have been subjected to attacks, looting, and destruction since the beginning of the siege. Many of them sought shelter in the city center, which is now itself completely blockaded. Water, electricity, and internet services have been cut off; medicine, fuel, and food are scarce or entirely unavailable, and even baby formula is lacking. According to the Women’s Council, several children have already died as a result of the blockade.
“Women and children are among the primary victims of this blockade. Nevertheless, they continue to resist with courage and determination,” the Women’s Council stated. At the same time, it criticized the failure to implement existing agreements aimed at lifting the blockade. In the statement, PYD women also drew parallels to the 2014 siege of Kobanê by the so-called Islamic State (ISIS), during which the city was defended through Kurdish and international solidarity. Today as well, it is this identity and sense of unity that is mobilizing many people to protect the region, the women said.
The Women’s Council called for the immediate withdrawal of armed groups affiliated with the transitional government from the surroundings of Kobanê, the lifting of the blockade, and the prompt implementation of the agreement concluded on January 29 between the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the Syrian transitional government. The statement also appealed to international organizations and human rights institutions to urgently provide humanitarian assistance and apply political pressure.