SYRIZA MP
Nantia Valavani in a mission at Kobani
Part I
Turkish-Syrian
borders, a night of 28th October at the "dead zone" outside
a village close to Suruc, three kilometers from the "free-besieged"
Kobani. The absolute darkness in the night is broken only by small
fires on the dusty desert. Around of each one there is a small group
of people sitting on cement tiles: My mind goes to Rembrandt's "The
Night Watch", which depicts some higher officers guarding the
Queen. Here, however, the national guard, nearly 500 people every
night, is consisted by the civilians of this area and others who came
from far and left their jobs to guard every day from five in the
afternoon when the night falls until five in the morning with the
first light.
They "guard"
not queens, but 2000 young fighters on the other side: They observe
and monitor with cameras everything alongside the three most crucial
kilometers at the Syrian borders - they monitor enemy movements, but
they have also a preventive role. At the same time, their fires can
be seen from Kobani: The fighters wait to see them when the darkness
falls - so that they know that they are not forgotten, that they are
not alone during their wakefulness while surrounded, that someone is
on the other side to "guard" them.
In the same
village, always in the dark, inside a poor house as everything else:
Two rooms with blankets on the gravel floor. One room is used by men
to sleep, the other by women and many children, 19 people in total. A
family from Kobani is hosted by another one, as it happens with
thousands of houses throughout the area. They introduce us to the
father and mother of the family they host: Their son was killed 40
days ago, that is, the first and second day of the Jihadist attack on
Kobani. These refugees, however, they learn it just four days ago. We
say hello to the father with the hand on our heart. The mother, with
rough characteristics, speaks to us with a wild proudness and dignity
while small kids "hang" on her dress. She expects ISIS to
be eliminated and take her family back to Kobani, set a scene upon
the ruins and restart their lives in the town.
Outside the
house we hear the first aerial bombardment: First the explosions, at
the end, the sound of planes - stealth? People sitting around fires
drink tea from handmade samovars to warm up. Everyone offers us tea.
Inside the darkness, those fires that do not speak, they sing. A
young lady, lawyer from the town, asks us with anxiety if we can help
the defenders to find the thing they need most: heavy weaponry.
Despite the discussion and our commitment that we'll do everything we
can to gather food, medicine and winter clothing, she seems to be
disappointed with us.
Early in the
morning of October 29, everyone learned the news about Rehana, the
young woman who became known all over the world by foreign
journalists, as they said that she killed 100 Jihadists: She was
captured in the night by ISIS and beheaded.
They
explained to us from the start that there is no chance for foreign
representatives to cross the town to the other side. The latest days,
ISIS attacks aim to capture the only "open" side close to
the borders, "sealing" Kobani. ISIS is shelling frequently
the town from the hills around and therefore they cannot guarantee
our safety. However, when we were leaving the area the next night, a
quite known Greek reporter called us through the crowd around our
car, people who were waiting for Peshmerga to arrive. He assured us
loudly that he will enter Kobani. I have a sense that he will manage
to do it.
That noon we
met on the hill, one kilometer from the town, where one can watch the
buildings with the naked eye. I watched with the binoculars: It was
like I was there. In Athens, two days later, I read in a foreign
website that what we saw on 29th October, the explosions and the
clouds of black and white smoke captured by the camera of the
reporter Michalis Karagiannis, was the shelling of the north side of
Suruc: ISIS was trying to prevent the passage of Peshmerga who were
about to arrive.
Source
and pictures:
Comments
Post a Comment