Bêrîtan Elyakut /JINHA

KOBANÊ – With every street in the city of Kobanê marked by the scars of war and the stories of resistance, women are debating the reconstruction process and the possibility of turning over areas of the city to a museum.

The Kobanê resistance, ongoing today in the effort to liberate the city's villages from Daesh operations, now faces the struggle of reconstruction in the city center, after its January liberation. With a conference planned in the Northern Kurdish city of Diyarbakır for May 2 and 3, when experts will gather to discuss rebuilding the city, women in the streets of Kobanê are discussing what they want to see in the new city.

Some citizens have proposed that three areas in the city—Freedom Square, Sokihal field and the municipal government building—be preserved in their state of ruin and turned into a museum.Uncounted YPG/YPJ fighters gave their lives in those three sites.

Fereh Mihemed, a native of Kobanê, says that when her children grow up, she wants them to be aware of the nature of the violence the city experienced. She also said that those coming to Kobanê from elsewhere should immediately be able to see with their own eyes "the savagery waged against us."

Other citizens, however, say they want to rebuild their homes in the area.

"If they make that area a museum, where will I live?" asked Nebihe Hemed, whose former house, which she built herself, is located in an area planned for a museum. "Everything here is looted and we're trying to live among the ruins right now. Martyrs' blood was spilled and Kobanê was liberated, but I'm against there being a decision to build a museum without consulting us."

Cemile Êsaf, a Kobanê resident, said she hasbeen trying to convince citizens like Nebihe to support the museum idea, saying that while no one should be displaced, many are uncomfortable rebuilding on the site.

"Our martyrs' belongings are under that debris," said Fadile Mihemmed. "To excavate the debris and make a house there, and live on top of that site would be hard for us.

"It's hard to build a new life where the blood of martyrs fell," said Fadile.

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