Beautiful city torn apart by fighting
Returning Kurdish refugees tell Cape Town journalist Yazeed Kamaldien of a once-lovely city caught in the crossfire of war
KURDISH families returning home to Kobane this week cautiously made their way through rubble, unexploded bombs and burnt corpses of the global terror group Islamic State (IS).
Kobane is a Syrian city on the Turkish border which has been a battleground between IS and Kurdish fighters since September.
IS has attracted Muslims from several countries to fight for its vision of creating an Islamic empire. Over the past few years it has gained control in parts of Iraq and wreaked havoc in Syria. Deadly clashes have led to thousands of residents fleeing to other parts of Syria, Iraq and refugee camps in Turkish cities.
Kurdish fighters have pushed IS back to villages on the outskirts of Kobane where clashes still continue. Despite this, locals are returning to an uncertain future.
Khatoon Abdi, a mother of eight daughters and four sons, said this week she was “happy to be home even if we don’t know if IS will come back. “Our house is destroyed. We have no electricity or water. We are living in a miserable situation.
“When we heard about the liberation of Kobane we returned immediately. We were in Urfa (a Turkish city). We prefer to live in this destruction than in other countries.
“We want all the other people to come back. We have to remove this destruction, especially the dead bodies because it can cause diseases.”
Another returning resident, Hassan Rami, said his family was still in Diyarbakir, a Turkish city where refugee camps have housed thousands of Kurds displaced by IS attacks mainly in Iraq.
“I was in Kobane when IS came and then left to Turkey. When they first came, they shelled the city with missiles. It was too dangerous to be here. We saw the fighting. We went to Diyarbakir. My family is there. I just came back to see my house. It is entirely destroyed.”
Pharmacy assistant Kurdi Ibrahim kissed the street and said: “I love it. Kobane was very beautiful. I am shocked to see it like this. It is very strange. We will rebuild our homes. We will give our children hope.
“I have hope that people will come back home. We need water and bread. We have no electricity. We need help from outside. Maybe other countries or the UN can help us.”
Fayza Abdi, co-president of the legislative council in Kobane, said locals were continually returning to their homes despite risks. The Turkish border this week opened for hundreds of refugees to reenter Kobane. “It is a psychological matter. People want to be in their homes.”
She said Kobane’s population was almost 700 000 and of that 200 000 left Syria during IS warfare. Many fled to areas near Kobane.
Abdi said the legislative council had formulated a plan to rebuild Kobane, but needed help. “We have six committees that have different jobs. There are some international organisations that promised to help us rebuild Kobane, but it’s just still promises,” she said.
Apart from the humanitarian crisis, Kobane’s returning residents also face the risk of land mines that IS planted across the town, said Abdi.
“Whenever people who return open the doors of their homes, bombs explode. This is the most difficult situation they face when they return home. Also there is no water. All the wells have been destroyed. All the electricity generators have been burned.”
A representative from an international NGO, who did not want to be named, confirmed that land mines and booby trap bombs were a threat.
IS planted explosives in homes, streets and even on the bodies of their dead fighters, said the aid worker.
“There are booby traps in people’s homes, front doors, refrigerators, in the streets. People go back and their faces are blown off,” said the worker.
“The UN can’t get involved in Syria via the Turkish border because of politics. NGOs have to enter Kobane illegally, but anti-mining groups can’t get in. People are just too slow to respond.”
The worker said there had already been “victims of land mines who need to be transferred to Turkey for help, but are being blocked at the border. They can’t get back into Turkey because the border is blocked. They can die at the border.”
Kobane’s makeshift hospital, set up in a basement school, assists civilians and Kurdish fighters injured in ongoing clashes with IS.
A female fighter was treated for an injury to her leg at the time of this interview.
At the makeshift hospital, Dr Hekmet Ahmed said they had only eight beds and limited doctors.
“Our hospitals have been destroyed. We need equipment to treat people,” he said.
A walk about the destroyed city unearths IS fighters’ bodies, family photo albums, children’s clothes, shops that used to sell wedding dresses and other goods.
While some families have generators, most live without electricity and water supply remains scarce.
Abdi said: “We as Kurdish people defeated IS. It is a victory for the international community. We ask the international community to support us in reconstructing Kobane.”