Jump to content

Kobani: Difference between revisions

Coordinates: 36°53′23″N 38°21′20″E / 36.88972°N 38.35556°E / 36.88972; 38.35556
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Browse history interactively
← Previous editNext edit →
Content deleted Content added
VisualWikitext
AnomieBOT (talk | contribs)
Bots
6,393,762 edits
Rescuing orphaned refs ("MonitorTastekin" from rev 669803445; "firstthings" from rev 669803445)
Cednel (talk | contribs)
204 edits
Undid revision 670329878 by 109.176.209.116 (talk) unexplained removal of sources
Line 125: Line 125:


==Name==
==Name==
The origin of the name {{lang|ku|''Kobanî'' (كوباني)}} is the word ''company'', referring to the German railway company<ref>
''Sociéte Impériale du Chemin de fer de Bagdad'', founded on 13 April 1903 with 40% ownership of [[Deutsche Bank]], 30% ''Banque Impériale Ottomane'', 10% ''Anatolische Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft'', 7.5% ''Wiener Bankverein'', 7.5% ''Schweizerische Kreditanstalt'', 5% ''Banca Commerciale Italiana''.</ref> <ref>{{cite journal |title=Explained: Kobane or Ayn al-Arab? |journal=Daily News |date=28 August 2014 |url=http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/explained-kobane-or-ayn-al-arab.aspx?pageID=238&nID=73591&NewsCatID=359 |accessdate=21 June 2015 }}</ref> who built that section of the [[Baghdad Railway|Konya-Baghdad Railway]] from 1911.<ref name="esyria"/><ref name="independent"/><ref name=MonitorTastekin>{{cite news|last1=Tastekin|first1=Fehim|title=Erdogan plays 'Arab card' in Kobani|url=http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/10/turkey-kobani-erdogan-deals-arab-card.html|publisher=Al-Monitor|date=28 October 2014}}</ref><ref name=firstthings>{{cite news|last1=Movsesian|first1=Mark|title=Kobani, Then and Now|url=http://www.firstthings.com/blogs/firstthoughts/2014/10/kobani-then-and-now|publisher=First Things|date=27 October 2014}}</ref>

The [[Ottoman Turkish language|Ottoman Turkish]] name given to the area was ''Arab Pinar'' "Spring of the Arabs" (''Arappınar'' in [[Modern Turkish]] orthography; ''[[:wikt:pınar|pınar]]'' "spring"), referring to the surrounding region, which comprised about 170 villages; the name referred to waterholes which were frequented annually by local [[Bedouin]]s); it was chosen as the name of the station around which the town later grew.
The [[Ottoman Turkish language|Ottoman Turkish]] name given to the area was ''Arab Pinar'' "Spring of the Arabs" (''Arappınar'' in [[Modern Turkish]] orthography; ''[[:wikt:pınar|pınar]]'' "spring"), referring to the surrounding region, which comprised about 170 villages; the name referred to waterholes which were frequented annually by local [[Bedouin]]s); it was chosen as the name of the station around which the town later grew.
As part of the [[Turkification]] effort at the time, Ottoman authorities introduced the official name ''Mürşitpınar'' ("Spring of the [[Murshid|Teacher]]") instead, which is still used as the name for the Turkish side of the border crossing.<ref>
As part of the [[Turkification]] effort at the time, Ottoman authorities introduced the official name ''Mürşitpınar'' ("Spring of the [[Murshid|Teacher]]") instead, which is still used as the name for the Turkish side of the border crossing.<ref>

Revision as of 18:47, 11 July 2015

This article is about the city. For the canton of which it is the capital, see Kobani Canton.
Kobanî (كوباني)
View of Kobanî during the siege of 2014
View of Kobanî during the siege of 2014
Country Syria
GovernorateAleppo
DistrictAyn al-Arab
SubdistrictAyn al-Arab
Founded1915
Autonomous area Syrian Kurdistan
Area
 • Total7 km2 (3 sq mi)
Elevation
520 m (1,710 ft)
Population
 • Total40,000[1] (March 2,015)
Time zoneUTC+2 (EET)
 • Summer (DST)+3

Kobanî, also known as Ayn al-Arab (Arabic: عين العرب North Levantine pronunciation: [ʕeːn elˈʕɑrɑb]), is a city in the Aleppo Governorate in northern Syria, lying immediately south of the border with Turkey. As a consequence of the Syrian Civil War, the city has been under control of the Kurdish YPG militia since 2012. In 2014, it was unofficially declared to be the administrative center of the Kobanî Canton of Rojava.

From September 2014 to January 2015 the city was under siege by Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. Most of the city was destroyed and most of the population fled to Turkey.[2] In 2015 many returned and reconstruction began.

Prior to the Syrian Civil War, Kobanî was recorded as having a population of close to 45,000.[3] The majority of inhabitants were Kurds, with Arab, Turkmen, and Armenian minorities.[4]

Name

The origin of the name [Kobanî (كوباني)] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) is the word company, referring to the German railway company[5] [6] who built that section of the Konya-Baghdad Railway from 1911.[7][8][9][10]

The Ottoman Turkish name given to the area was Arab Pinar "Spring of the Arabs" (Arappınar in Modern Turkish orthography; pınar "spring"), referring to the surrounding region, which comprised about 170 villages; the name referred to waterholes which were frequented annually by local Bedouins); it was chosen as the name of the station around which the town later grew. As part of the Turkification effort at the time, Ottoman authorities introduced the official name Mürşitpınar ("Spring of the Teacher") instead, which is still used as the name for the Turkish side of the border crossing.[11] The Arabic name ʿAyn al-ʿArab, "Spring of the Arabs", a translation of the Ottoman Turkish name Arab Pinar, was introduced officially by the Syrian government as part of a broader Arabization effort in the 1980s.[7][8][12]

History

Ottoman Empire and before

Prior to World War I, the area was mainly populated by semi-nomadic Kurdish tribes, many but not all part of the Milli confederation. These tribes had progressively migrated in from the north during the 19th century, pushing back the Arab Tribes which had previously occupied the area.[13] Local Kurds living in the plains to the east of the modern town reportedly provided lodgings at their encampment for a French-led archaeological team on its way to survey the nearby ancient Assyrian site of Arslan Tash in the summer of 1883.[14]

As of 1892, there were three homesteads situated in the area.[15] During the construction of the Baghdad Railway, Kurdish raiders from the Busrawi and Shahin Bey clans—rivals who lived on opposite sides of the valley in which the modern town is situated; reportedly harassed work crews attempting to mine basalt from the nearby hills, partially owing to the fact that the German companies responsible for its construction were lax in providing payment and compensation to local landowners.[13] German engineers staying in the area from 1912 to 1913 described Arab Punar as a "small Kurdish village around 35 km east of the Euphrates" comprising a small cluster of square mud-brick huts, many with domed roofs; the local chief's hut was notable among these in its incorporation of European-style doors and windows and its concrete flooring. The area was apparently also known for its swarms of biting sand-flies.[16]

The modern town began to form around the simple train station built in 1912 along the railway by workers from the nearby town of Suruç.[10] The train station was part of a railway project launched by the Ottoman government to connect Baghdad with Berlin, Germany.[9] Armenian refugees fleeing the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire founded a village next to the train station in 1915, and were soon joined by more Kurds from nearby areas.[9][10]

French Mandate

Many of the Kurds who settled in Kobanî came there after fleeing or being deported from Kurdish areas in Turkey as a result of the Kurdish-led Sheikh Said rebellion in that country in 1925.[9] After demarcation of the border with Turkey along the railway line in 1921, part of the town was left on the other side of the border, today incorporated in the Suruç district as Mürşitpınar and there is an eponymous border crossing. By the middle of the 20th century, there were three Armenian churches and two schools in the town, but most of the Armenian population emigrated to the Soviet Union in the 1960s.[17][18] The town was also home to a small Syriac Orthodox community, their numbered dwindled rapidly and the town's only Syriac Orthodox church was demolished in the early 1960s.[19]

The city's infrastructural layout was largely planned and constructed by French authorities during the Mandatory period, and a number of French-built buildings are still standing and in use today.[4] During this period, the city of Suruç served as the regional center of Kobanî. The area was marked by several border crossings with Turkey, unsanctioned by either the Turkish or French Mandatory governments. The crossings became a source of numerous Turkish complaints and led to the establishment of a French intelligence office in Kobanî to monitor border activity.[9] Throughout the 20th century, the border remained officially closed even as the neighbouring towns of Tall Abyad and Jarablus—both of which had smaller Kurdish populations—were allowed to have commercial border crossings, a situation which economically marginalised Kobanî for many years.[20] This official isolation lasted until 2010, when a small gate was established between Kobanî and the adjacent Turkish village of Mürşitpınar.[21]

Syria pre-autonomy

When Syria gained independence from France in 1946, the intelligence building served as the political office of the Kobanî area's highest-ranking local administrator. Kobanî started to develop as a city in the 1950s when it was further separated from Suruç as a result of the Turkish government mining of the border area.

Syrian civil war

Siege by ISIL

Main articles: Syrian Kurdish–Islamist conflict (2013–present) and Siege of Kobanî

The People's Protection Units (YPG) captured Kobanî on 19 July 2012.[22] Since July 2012, Kobanî has been under Kurdish control, while the YPG and Kurdish politicians anticipate autonomy for the area, which they consider part of Rojava.[23] After similar less intense events earlier in 2014, on 2 July the town and surrounding villages came under a massive attack from fighters of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.[24] On 16 September, ISIL resumed its siege of Kobanî with a full-scale assault from the west and the south of the city. On 6 January 2015, the Combined Joint Task Force targeted 8 airstrikes in the city, destroying 14 ISIL fighting positions and a building.[25]

Kobanê during the bombardment of ISIL targets by US-led forces. Photo taken from Turkish-Syrian border at Suruç,Suruc, Turkey showing refugee camp in the middle distance (October 2014)

Kobanî Canton has been attacked by ISIL militants for several months. In September 2014, militants occupied most of Kobanî Canton, seizing more than 100 Kurdish villages.[26][27] As a consequence of the ISIL occupation, up to 200,000 Kurdish refugees fled from Kobanî Canton to Turkey.[26] Turkish authorities did not allow the refugees to enter with any vehicles or livestock that they had.[28]

In captured villages, militants committed massacres and kidnapped women.[27] IS militants, however, were not able to occupy the entire canton, as the YPG and YPJ forces managed to defend the town of Kobanî and several nearby settlements. After weeks of isolation, as a result of Turkey blocking arms and fighters from entering the town, due to the general hostility of the Turkish establishment towards Kurds with any links to the PKK, the US-led coalition began to target ISIL with a larger number of airstrikes. This move aided the YPG/YPJ in forcing ISIL to retreat from numerous parts of the town. However, according to a YPG official, Turkey was still blockading the town, rendering the position of the YPG/YPJ in Kobanî as vulnerable.[29] Nonetheless, on 20 October there were reports that Turkey, under significant US pressure, would allow Kurdish fighters from Iraqi Kurdistan to cross into Kobanî.[30] About 150 Kurdish troops were admitted on 29 October, which then began to turn the tide of the siege in favor of the Kurds. The YPG reportedly forced ISIL to retreat from most of Kobanî on 26 January 2015,[2] thus lifting the siege apart from mopping-up operations in areas where YPG forces believed ISIL leaders might be hiding.[31] The city is currently under YPG control.

Reconstruction

The Kobane Reconstruction Board has asked for international assistance.[32] According to a spokesman for the Syrian Kurds who control the town, Kobane has been 70% destroyed.[33] There has been several attempts to support Kobane, especially from the Kurdish communities in Turkey and Iraq. Assistance was also offered from several European organisations. However, as of May 2015, Turkey has kept the border closed, no materials have reached the city, and the international community does not want to pressure Turkey on the matter.[34] By May 2015 more than 50,000 people have returned to the destroyed town. Also by May the Kobane authorities with the help of the municipality of Diyarbakır, managed after 8 months of no running water, to restore the water pump and supply for the urban area, repaired the pipelines and cleaned the main water tank.[35]

June 2015 massacres

Main article: June 2015 Kobanî attack

On 25 June 2015, fighters from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant detonated three car bombs in Kobani, close to the Turkish border crossing and launched a surprise assault on the town. At least 220 Kurdish civilians were massacred in mass killings by ISIL fighters[36][37] in their homes or killed by the group's rockets or snipers and many more were injured by the attack on the town, making it one of the worst massacres carried out by ISIL in Syria. In another report Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and spokesman for the Kurdish People's Protection Units said that more than 200 Kurdish civilians were massacred. Women and children were among the bodies found inside houses and on the streets of Kobane. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that ISIL fired at everything that moved.[38][39][40][41][42][43][44] Islamic State also committed a massacre in the village of Barkh Butan, about 20 kilometers south of Kobane, executed at least 23 Syrian Kurds, among them women and children.[45] Kurdish forces and the Syrian government claimed the vehicles had entered the city from across the border, an action denied by Turkey.[46]

References

  1. ^ [1]
  2. ^ a b "Syrian Kurds 'drive Islamic State out of Kobane'". BBC News. 26 January 2015. Retrieved 26 January 2015.
  3. ^ According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), Kobanî had a population of 44,821 in the 2004 census. General Census of Population and Housing 2004. Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). Aleppo Governorate. Template:Ar icon
  4. ^ a b according to a 2013 estimate, about 90% Kurds, close to 5% Arab and Turkmen, and 1% Armenians."The Second Report: Ayn al-Arab/Kobani, Etana Billetin-First issue". Etana Files. 1 December 2013. Retrieved 28 April 2014.
  5. ^ Sociéte Impériale du Chemin de fer de Bagdad, founded on 13 April 1903 with 40% ownership of Deutsche Bank, 30% Banque Impériale Ottomane, 10% Anatolische Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft, 7.5% Wiener Bankverein, 7.5% Schweizerische Kreditanstalt, 5% Banca Commerciale Italiana.
  6. ^ "Explained: Kobane or Ayn al-Arab?". Daily News. 28 August 2014. Retrieved 21 June 2015.
  7. ^ a b Nedal Yousef, 'Interview with Hussein Amin Hussein about [his book] 'Ayn al-Arab – One Hundred Years "حسين أمين حسين"...يتحدث عن مدينة "عين العرب" في مئة عام.. (esyria.sy) 9 April 2009. Hussein Ali Hussein, "Ayn Al-Arab over a century" (عين العرب في مئة عام), Dar Al-Aqsa, Damascus (2007); the book is a history of the town compiled for its centennial from accounts in living memory (notably from one Mohamed Abdi, who according to Hussein died in 1998 aged 118, as well as "other centenarians from the region").
  8. ^ a b Patrick Cockburn, Isis in Kobani: Turkey’s act of abandonment may mark an 'irrevocable breach' with Kurds across the region Independent 7 October 2014.
  9. ^ a b c d e Tastekin, Fehim (28 October 2014). "Erdogan plays 'Arab card' in Kobani". Al-Monitor.
  10. ^ a b c Movsesian, Mark (27 October 2014). "Kobani, Then and Now". First Things.
  11. ^ region of 170 villages: Gérard Chaliand, A People Without a Country: The Kurds and Kurdistan, 1993, p. 195. name of the station: Office International de Renseignements sur les Sauterelles de Damas, 1930, p. 43.
  12. ^ Kheder Khaddour, Kevin Mazur, The Struggle for Syria's Regions (MER269) "State policy Arabized this town’s name in the 1980s to ‘Ayn al-‘Arab, meaning the “spring of the Arabs.” The running joke among residents is that the town has neither Arabs nor a spring."
  13. ^ a b Woolley, Sir Leonard (1920). Dead towns and living men: Being pages from an antiquary's notebook. Oxford University Press. pp. 178–221.
  14. ^ Heuzey, Léon; Hamdy-Bey (1899). "Les ruines de Arslan-Tash". Comptes rendus des séances de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres (in French). 43 (5): 617.
  15. ^ Nedal Yousef, 'Interview with Hussein Amin Hussein about [his book] 'Ayn al-Arab – One Hundred Years "حسين أمين حسين"...يتحدث عن مدينة "عين العرب" في مئة عام.. (esyria.sy) 9 April 2009. Hussein Ali Hussein, "Ayn Al-Arab over a century" (عين العرب في مئة عام), Dar Al-Aqsa, Damascus (2007); the book is a history of the town compiled for its centennial from accounts in living memory (notably from one Mohamed Abdi, who according to Hussein died in 1998 aged 118, as well as "other centenarians from the region").
  16. ^ Boyes, William (March 1916). "Persönliche Erinnerungen vom Bau der Bagdadbahn". The Technologist: Mitteilungen des deutsch-amerikanischen Techniker-Verbandes (in German). 21 (3): 80–86.
  17. ^ Cheterian, Vikin (2 October 2013). "Kurdish Leader Denies Syrian Kurds Seek Secession". Translated by Sami-Joe Abboud. Al Monitor. Retrieved 28 April 2014. Originally published in Arabic by Al-Hayat as أكراد سورية لا يريدون الانفصال نحارب النظام و«النصرة» ونخشى مجازر on 28 September 2013.
  18. ^ Korucu, Serdar (24 October 2014). "Bir Ermeni çocuğun Kobani hatıraları..." (in Turkish). Radikal.
  19. ^ السريان ..... عين العرب وتل أبيض (in Arabic). qenshrin.com. 18 October 2005. Retrieved 11 December 2014.
  20. ^ Yildiz, Kerim (2005). The Kurds in Syria: The Forgotten People. London: Pluto Press. p. 25. ISBN 0745324991.
  21. ^ "Sınır Kapıları Listesi HUDUT KAPILARI NEVİLERİN GÖRE-AÇIKLAMALI SINIR ÜLKELERİ" (PDF) (in Turkish). Turkish Interior Ministry. 26 March 2013. p. 3. Retrieved 3 November 2014.
  22. ^ "More Kurdish Cities Liberated As Syrian Army Withdraws from Area". Rudaw. 20 July 2012.
  23. ^ "NATO's Secret Kurdish War: Turkey Prepares Iraq-Style Attacks Inside Syria – OpEd – Eurasia Review". Retrieved 29 October 2014.
  24. ^ "What's happening in Kobane?". Kurdish Question. 6 July 2014.
  25. ^ Doina Chiacu (6 January 2015). "U.S.-led forces conduct 10 air strikes in Syria, two in Iraq – military".
  26. ^ a b "Isis onslaught against Kurds in Syria brings 'man-made disaster' into Turkey". The Guardian. Retrieved 29 October 2014.
  27. ^ a b IPD Group. "ISIL seizes 21 Kurdish villages in northern Syria, close in on Kobanî – World News Report". Retrieved 29 October 2014.
  28. ^ Ayla Albayrak. "Hundreds Wait for Kobani Fighting to End, Risking Lives at Border". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 29 October 2014.
  29. ^ "YPG official: Airstrikes not enough to protect Kobani – Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East". Al-Monitor. Retrieved 29 October 2014.
  30. ^ "Turkey to Allow Reinforcements". The Independent. Retrieved 29 October 2014.
  31. ^ YPG retakes the entire city of Ayn al- Arab “Kobani” after 112 days of clashes with IS militants
  32. ^ "News". Help Kobane.[full citation needed]
  33. ^ Paton Walsh, Nick (5 May 2015). "Syrian town tries to rise from ashes after ISIS defeat". CNN.
  34. ^ Geerdink, Fréderike (9 May 2015). "Closed Turkish border endangers present and future of Kobani". Beacon. Retrieved 12 May 2015.
  35. ^ Clifford, Peter (15 May 2015). "Kobane / Cizire Update 90: Kurdish Advance in Cizire Continues Taking 20+ Villages from Islamic State in 48 Hours". Retrieved 12 May 2015.
  36. ^ "Syrian Kurds say thwart big Islamic State attack on border town". Reuters, Yahoo News.
  37. ^ "HRW: ISIS murdered 233 civilians in Kobanê since June". Dicle News Agency.
  38. ^ "Syria crisis: Islamic State 'kills 120 civilians' in Kobane". BBC News.
  39. ^ "Islamic State kills at least 145 civilians in Syria's Kobani". Reuters.
  40. ^ "ISIS 'kills at least 146 civilians' in Kobane, activists say". Yahoo News.
  41. ^ "Mass Killings by ISIL Fighters in Syrian Kurdish Town". The New York Times.
  42. ^ "Isis in Kobani: Why we ignore the worst of the massacres". The Independent.
  43. ^ "Syria Islamic State: Kurds 'claim control over Kobane'". BBC News.
  44. ^ "Kurdish fighters retake Syria's Kobani". The Daily Mail.
  45. ^ "IS 'executes 23 Kurds' in village near Syria's Kobane". Yahoo News.
  46. ^ "Syria crisis: IS re-enters Kurdish-held city of Kobane". 25 June 2015. Retrieved 25 June 2015.

36°53′23″N 38°21′20″E / 36.88972°N 38.35556°E / 36.88972; 38.35556

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kobani&oldid=671003883"