KOBANI, Syria (North Press) – Every morning Lezgin Abbas, a resident of Kobani, northern Syria, goes to his shoe store with the hope that his new day would be a better one, but to no avail.
Threats made by the Turkish state have brought to a stall every aspect of life in the city of Kobani on the Syrian-Turkish border.
Inside his store that is just 200 meters from the Turkish border, the 37-year-old Abbas says locals in Kobani remain daunted with the prospect of a Turkish ground invasion that could initiate a wave of displacement some seven years after the city was attacked by the Islamic State Organization (ISIS).
On November 20, Turkish forces unleashed an unprecedented aerial and artillery bombardment against northern Syria. Kobani had its share of the Turkish bombardment. The first airstrikes hit Mashta al-Nour Hill, south of Kobani, causing a wide spread destruction.
On the border
Kobani lies beneath Turkish border with Syria. Turkish flags could be seen easily and clearly from Kobani. These flags revive memories of war. Kobani is the farthest city in the northern countryside of Aleppo where the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) was announced in 2014.
Turkey has threatened to carry out a ground invasion into Kobani for years. However, it has intensified its tone in the aftermath of the Istanbul explosion on November 13. Turkish fingers pointed at the AANES accusing it of carrying out the attack.
The AANES categorically denied the Turkish claims. It expressed its readiness to part in a fact-finding international committee.
Kobani came to the fore and received global sympathy in 2014 when People’s Protection Units (YPG) and Women’s Protection Units (YPJ) stood against the ISIS militants. Upon the defeat of the radical group in the city, the US-led Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS was forged.
Last month, Commander in Chief of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), Mazloum Abdi, who comes from Kobani, said in an interview with al-Monitor the “true target” of any Turkish ground invasion is Kobani.
Abdi noted Turkey wants to take Kobani to attach it with the city of Azaz in north of Aleppo and other cities that it “occupied” in 2019, that is to connect Afrin, Azaz, al-Bab, Kobani, Tel Abyad and Sere Kaniye.
Kurdish politician Anwar Muslim, the first ever co-chair of Kobani, said Turkey wants to destroy the democratically run experiment established in north Syria.
“It [Turkey] wants to attack Kobani to abort the AANES and destroy the city that has become a symbol in defeating ISIS. This is why it cites pretexts of its national security,” Muslim added.
Muslim believes that the international community has become a friend of Kurds and their cause, and does not see that “their main partner – the Global Coalition – would give up the city that sacrificed thousands of Kurds to curb ISIS’ posed dangers to the international community.”
No trust in allies
However, Lezgin and a number of locals in the city no longer trust in allies which left people to their fate in the face of invading Turkish forces. “We are like a soccer ball played by both the US and Russia.”
However, people still have hope and remain in their city. They have previously experienced the bitterness of displacement.
Muslim indicated if Turkey carries out any ground invasion without any international “okay” that could destabilize the whole region and have unforeseeable consequences, notably with the US.
The Kurdish politician said Turkey seems to be in a political dilemma, if it attacks east of the Euphrates River, that could create more tensions with the US and if it attacks west of the river, that could aggravate the situation with Russia and Iran.
Muslim says the international community is asked to consider seriously the ISIS issue and to find a sustainable solution to thousands of fighters of the radical group detained in prisons run by the AANES and to stop Turkish attacks.
There have been appeals made by the SDF leadership for peace with Turkey but it has received no response.
In October 2019, in the aftermath of Sere Kaniye and Tel Abyad invasion, the US president Donald Trump and Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu contacted Abdi to discuss the Turkish threats.
Trump promised at the time to stop Turkish attacks and protect Kobani from a new Turkish invasion.
Still, the US and Russian stances and reactions stopped Turkey from materializing its recent threats of invading Kobani.
However, observers believe the threats are still there and the prospect of a new ground invasion still alive, notably in 2023, in which Turkish Presidential elections are scheduled to take place.
Locals do not trust international powers especially after the fall of Afrin in 2018 following Turkish operation “Olive Branch” and the famous phone call between Erdogan and Trump that signaled the US okay to Turkey to invade Sere Kaniye and Tel Abyad in 2019 following “Peace Spring.”
In his electoral campaign, Joe Biden made pledges not to echo Trump and let the Kurds to their fate.
At the end of November, Abdi reminded Biden of his pledge regarding protecting the Kurds and their cities.
Kurdish politician and author, Saleh Bozan, says the Kurds in Syria and SDF do not pose threats to Turkey; it was Turkey that mingled itself in the Syrian cause and then in the Kurdish one.
“Kurds of Syria have no problem with Turkey. Although they support the Kurdish people in Turkey to get their rights, this support does not exceed slogans,” he said.
Bozan wonders, saying who poses a threat to the other; it was Turkey who created the ISIS and supported its attack against Kobani and all Syrian Kurds in 2014.
The Kurdish politician added that bringing up the idea of solving the Kurdish cause in Syria perturbs Turkish statesmen who fear it could encourage a similiar route in Turkey. This is the main reason why Erdogan tries to occupy what is left of northern Syria.
Locals in Kobani wonder how they pose threats to Turkey? On the contrary, locals say, they want good neighborly relations with Turkey and to open border crossings and exchange goods.
Adventure
According to Bozan, there are two main reasons that could push Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to take such a military adventure into north Syria. The first lies in his aspiration to remain in office in the coming eletions, as he has made no progress. So being the case, this is the only remaining option to nurture religious sentiments and outdated Ottoman aspirations for the Turkish people.
The second is his feeling of defeat at home, regionally and globally. He has become a beggar to Arab rulers and appeals himself with meetings with Russian President [Valdimnir Putin] and now he aspires to meet Syrian Pesident [Bashar al-Assad], the politician said.
Bozan believes Erdogan could attack Kobani suddenly, and that warplanes of Biden or Putin would not repel him. The Syrian government and the opposition lack the national responsibilty to stand up to him.
However, if such an adventure takes place, Turkey would be isolated regionally and globally.
In the recent NATO meeting, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Germany, Annalena Baerbock, expressed her country’s opposition to her Turkish counterpart on the intention of the latter’s government to invade northern Syria.
Strikingly, this stance seems a different one to the known German policy regarding Turkey.
Bozan points out that economic sanctions could be imposed on Turkey in case it carries out its alleged ground operation, saying it would painfully affect the Turkish economy amid high rates of infaltion and that it could backfire at Erdogan‘s wish to garner voices in the coming elections.
Any operation would entail the eventual donwfall of Erdogan.
Recent airstrikes did not lead to displacement from the city as Erdogan had wished. This implies that Kobani is a heroic city, Bozan said.
He seems confident that Turkey will not destroy Kobani, the Kurdish cause in Syria or inside Turkey since it has reached international arenas strongly.
The owner of a shoe store wonders, “How could a small city such as Koabni pose threats to a NATO state? the US and Rusia could put an end to such groundless pretexts.”
He, however, voices concerns over an unclear future, “If a lamp in our house no longer operates, we do not replace it with a new one, fearing an imminent displacement. They ought to find a solution, we do not pose threats to anybody, we want to live in peace and replace that lamp.”