How best to protect the civilians in Kobane

1049

18 February, 2018

This week saw two important developments involving Isis and Turkey: the release of 49 Turkish hostages held by Isis and the massive influx of more than 100.000 Kurdish refugees into Turkey as they fled Iraq.

The release of Turkish diplomats was surprising good news and one we have not been used to hearing for a long time due to the serious conflicts going on mostly in the Middle East, especially after the horrendous slaughter of hostages from other nations. This was not made possible by any ransom paid by Turkey.

We should remind ourselves that even one human life is extremely valuable and cannot be measured by monetary value. It is our duty to do whatever it takes to save the lives at stake.

Always keeping the safety of its 49 diplomats' lives in mind, Turkey chose a calm approach in the face of the Isis threat and despite harsh criticism from the international community, Turkey didn't jeopardise the safety of its citizens by getting caught in the heat of the moment.

Turkey did not choose to take part in a military operation similar to its decision not to partake in the Iraq invasion by the US in the early 2000s. Turkey did not only choose not to be involved in a military action because of the hostages but also we are cognizant that armed operations would only exacerbate the violence.

As a result, Turkey, chose to join in providing only humanitarian aid as a part of the US-led Jeddah Communiqué. To the surprise of the international community, our citizens held captive for 101 days were freed in the end.

In the meantime, Isis militants advanced rapidly towards the Kurdish region and seized 60 Kurdish villages near the Turkish border in only forty-eight hours. As the fight for the strategically important Kobane, also known as Ayn Al Arab continues, a massive group of Kurdish civilians fled the area and entered Turkey in an unprecedented wave of refugee movement.

Only in two days a staggering number of 100,000 Kurdish people crossed the Syrian border into Turkey. The PKK fighters who were supposed to fight against Isis, ran away leaving behind not only their weapons, but worse, defenceless, innocent Kurdish civilians.

However, there are still many civilians in the area and the threat is growing by the day.

This brings us back to idea of providing a safe zone on Turkey's border in case of the occurrence of such conflicts in order to protect the innocent civilians. It would be ideal to have a safe zone of a 60 square kilometre area, 50 for the civilians and 10 square kilometre for precaution. It is no doubt it would facilitate the humanitarian aids extended to the refugees suffering from war.

It is therefore of paramount importance that all the civilians, starting with the women and children, are immediately evacuated from the region and brought to this safe zone.

Turkey is now having a series of meetings in the US seeking options to convince Russia, who is ill-disposed to establish a safe zone along the Turkey-Syria border.

This would be the short-term solution for the safety and well-being of the innocent.

Despite the grand gesture of Turkey welcoming more than 100,000 Kurdish refugees, and the fact that PKK militants did nothing but flee, the PKK propaganda machine continued its work.

A group of people associated with BDP (pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party) attacked the Turkish soldiers and police who were in charge of the border security with stones, sticks and bottle rockets.

Incidents began during the day when some groups from BDP hung posters of Öcalan and tried to cross the border illegally. The security forces had to intervene and in the resulting attacks police used water cannons to disperse the rowdy crowd.

To restrain order on the Turkey-Syrian border, the safe zone should be established with the approval of the United Nations. Many people, mostly children have lost their lives due to the on-going conflict in Syria for the last three years.

The world should not turn a blind eye to them but take an immediate action to do what is necessary to place them in a safe haven, which is the border of Turkey.