JINHA

RIHA - With Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan recently stating his intention to launch a military intervention in Syria, the people of the city of Kobanê are angry.

On June 25th, over 200 civilians were killed in an attack by Daesh on the city of Kobanê, part of the Rojava autonomous region of Syria. The attack came on the heels of major victories by Rojava's YPG/YPJ forces, who pushed Daesh out of the city of Girê Spî, located on the border of Syria and Turkey. The day after the attack, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan made a statement that Turkey will not tolerate "a state on our border" and will stop it at any cost--in other words, an intention to send Turkish soldiers to attack Rojava.

A large group of Kobanê residents has been waiting at the border over the last four days, hoping to re-enter the city after fleeing the attack into Turkey.

"What does Tayyip Erdoğan want from us? Why is he sending Daesh gangsters across the border to attack us?" asked Ehmed Hec Xelîlê Temê, gesturing to the hundreds of Kobanê civilians like himself, who have been waiting to re-enter the city since they fled the attack. Ehmed, who is from the village of Tilêjbê in Kobanê, watched as Daesh decapitated 11 members of his family. "Now they won't even let us go carry away the bodies. Tayyip Erdoğan needs to get off the backs of the Kurdish people and quit causing this pain."

Mistefa Nuro, another survivor of the massacre, says Turkey and the Syrian regime have both had a clear role in the attack on Kobanê.

"They want to stop our victories and tear us apart," he said. "What business does the Turkish state have in Kobanê and in Rojava?"

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