Kobani resumes its folkloric evenings after long hiatus due to coronavirus

KOBANI, Syria (North Press) – With the support of the cultural board in Kobani city northeast Syria, Baqi Khedu center for culture and art, resumed on Thursday its cultural activities, that were being held on a weekly basis in the form of evenings, after four months of stop due to the lockdown imposed by the Autonomous Administration in March to prevent the outbreak of COVID19 .

Othman Bakki, co-chair of the Baqi Khedu Center for Culture and Art in Kobani, told North Press that,” they resumed these activities to continue throughout the year, as the center began organizing cultural events before the outbreak of coronavirus, but it stopped due to lockdown measures.”

“The aim of these activities is to change the general atmosphere of the city and adding some joy and happiness, away from war and destruction, by organizing cultural and artistic activities," Bakki  said.

“The residents of Kobani went through difficult times, after ISIS attack in 2014, which resulted in the destruction of the city's infrastructure, in addition to the death of a large number of civilians,” he added.

After the resumption of the cultural activities in Kobani, the committee of the center invited figures of  cultural events and some artists from other communities, such as Turkmen, Arabs and Circassians from the cities of Manbij, Raqqa, Tabqah and the countryside of Tel Abyad (Gre-Spi), according to Bakki.

The co-chair of the Center indicated that their activities will be held once a week, it will include folkloric activities such as Dabke, singing and theatrical works, as well as performances that express the economic and social heritage of the region's residents.

It is worth mentioning that Kobani is a Syrian border town of special significance to the YPG, which fought off Islamic State militants trying to seize it in 2014 – 2015 in one of the fiercest battles of the Syrian war.

Reporting by Fattah Issa