Turkey has always tried by various means to undermine the will and resistance of the region's people by supporting extremist and mercenary organizations such as ISIS, Al-Nusra and the so-called "Free Army" and moving them against the Autonomous Administration areas.
But the massacre of Kobane and Barkh Batan village may be one of the bloodiest events on the Syrian geography. On June 25, 2015, dozens of ISIS mercenaries infiltrated Barkh Batan village and Kobane city, and committed a horrific massacre against civilians, killing 233 people, including 27 civilians from the village.
At the time, Turkey was accused, especially since there were those who saw ISIS elements infiltrate through Turkish territory into Kobane city to kill civilians, and the information was received that Turkey had already known of ISIS' intentions to commit the massacre, which raises many questions about the nature of the Turkish role in perpetrating this bloody operation.
Why Kobane?
Kobane, the Syrian Kurdish city located in the north and east of Syria on the Syrian-Turkish border is 30 kilometers east of the Euphrates River and about 150 kilometers north-east of Aleppo.
Kobane was liberated from Syrian government forces on July 19, 2012 to be the first Kurdish city liberated from government control.
Kobane people established an autonomous administration and their own military forces, similar to the regions of Afrin and Al-Jazira, but this did not appeal to regional and local parties such as Turkey and its arms on the Syrian geography, so several parties began to stalk the Autonomous Administration that was announced in Al-Jazira, Kobane and Afrin during January in 2014.
Starting with the so-called "Free Army", through Jabhet al-Nusra (currently Hayet Tahrir Al-Sham), and ending with ISIS, several parties attacked Kobane city, but the decisive battle was with ISIS which launched a massive attack on Kobane and its villages on September 15/16, 2014. Soon, they took control of most of the villages and more than half of the city's area, but the People's Protection Units (YPG) and Women's Protection Units (YPJ) defended the city and liberated it 134 days after continuous battles, for ISIS to be officially expelled from the city on January 26, 2015.
Thus, the People's Protection Units and Women's Protection Units continued to liberate all villages in Kobane countryside gradually, reaching Girê Spî / Tel Abyad east of Kobane city, Ain Issa south-east of Kobane, and Sarin district countryside south of the city. Then, the people began to gradually return to the city and its countryside, and life began to pulse again in Kobane streets, neighborhoods and countryside.
However, after the defeats it suffered, ISIS infiltrated Kobane city, and committed a horrific massacre against civilians in retaliation for its defeats, and behind it was Turkey which wanted revenge against the region's people who thwarted its plans, which it wanted to implement in cooperation with ISIS and other agents on the Syrian geography.
The process of storming the city, its countryside and committing the massacre
On the 25th of June, ISIS mercenaries stormed Kobane city and a number of its villages around 04:00 am, committing horrific massacres that varied between direct killing, in addition to sniping and suicide bombings, according to eyewitnesses.
ISIS mercenaries remained holed up in the neighborhoods they entered and civilians were trapped for nearly three days until the People's Protection Units and Women managed at that time to liberate them outside the city, while hundreds of families remained stuck on the Turkish border for two nights in succession, and hundreds as well were stuck in the west of Kobane city.
The massacre rose to the level of genocide
The most heinous methods of violence and criminality against humanity which are internationally prohibited were used by ISIS, such as slaughter, burning and mutilation of human bodies, which left a large number of innocent and defenseless civilian victims. The Autonomous Administration documented 333 people who were martyred as a result of the massacre, including about 27 martyrs of the Barkh Batan massacre, most of whom were children, women and the elderly.
According to several reports of humanitarian organizations, the massacre committed by ISIS mercenaries rose to the level of genocide against Kurds, given that the city is a Kurdish area.
The Kobane massacre was revenge for ISIS defeat
In this context, Co-chair of the Relations Office of the Democratic Union Party in the Euphrates region, Bakr Hajj Issa, says that "the Kobane massacre was in retaliation for the defeat of ISIS, the victory of Kobane people's resistance and the gains of YPG and YPJ. The Turkish state could not bear Kobani's victory over its partner ISIS."
Bakr Hajj Issa confirms that the Turkish state had attempts to undermine the Kobane resistance, saying, "On 29,11,2014, during the resistance of Kobane people to ISIS brutal attacks, Turkey brought an armored vehicle from the Murshed Benar border crossing to Kobane to explode at the gate, leaving victims and injuries, but it was unable to defeat the people's resistance."
Bakr points out that this incident was Turkey's first attempt to undermine the people's resistance, but the second attempt was on June 25, 2015, committing a massacre via its mercenaries; however, the area's people managed to undermine the enemy's plans.
It is in Turkey's interest to undermine Kobane resistance
Hajj Issa believes that the aim of that massacre was to undermine the spirit of the Kobane resistance, in addition to instilling fear in the hearts of the people to displace them, and give the idea that Kobane is not safe and is still in danger of ISIS threatening, and that this idea was in the interest of Turkey by introducing Kobane to the world in this way.
He notes that these were the plans of the Turkish state to displace the people of the region and commit massacres against them, and that Turkey is still working according to that plan, which is evident through its occupation of several areas in north Syria and the perpetration of massacres and crimes against the region and its people, especially against women in the occupied Kurdish areas.
According to Co-chair of the Democratic Union Party’s Relations Office in the Euphrates region, Bakr Hajj Issa, these massacres illustrate the mentality of the Turkish state which throughout history has exterminated the Armenian, Assyrian and Kurdish people, and Turkey continues to do so until now.
Despite Turkey's involvement in many crimes and massacres committed against the people of the north and east of Syria, whether in the occupied areas or the rest of the Syrian regions, there is no international move to hold Turkey and Turkish officials accountable for their crimes.
D.H
ANHA
