Friday, January 30, 2015

Two articles on Kobani

What Kobani means to Turkey's  Kurds by Jennna Krajenski from November 8, 2014:
“Kobani today is for Syrian Kurds and Turkish Kurds what Halabja was for Iraqi Kurds,” Barkey told me, referring to the site of Hussein’s chemical-weapons attacks in 1988 against the Kurds. “It’s a stepping stone for national mobilization and nation-building. … Even if Kobani falls, it will strengthen Kurdishness. This was a Turkish miscalculation.”
Kurdish Victory in Kobani Defeat for Turkish Policy by Amberin Zaman in US News, January 29, 2015:
"The recent spate of deadly street battles pitting pro-PKK Kurds against their pro-Islamist rivals in the town of Cizre on the Iraqi border is widely seen as an ominous spillover from Kobani. Such pan-Kurdish sentiments pose a dilemma for Ocalan, who insists that Turkey’s Kurds do not want a separate state."

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