Ayn al-Arab

Kobanê (كوباني)
Ayn Al-Arab (عين العرب)
View of Kobanî during the siege of 2014
Kobanê (كوباني) Location in Syria
Coordinates: 36°53′23″N 38°21′20″E / 36.88972°N 38.35556°E / 36.88972; 38.35556
Country	Syria
Governorate	Aleppo
District	Ayn al-Arab
Subdistrict	Ayn al-Arab
Founded	1915
Area
• Total	7 km2 (3 sq mi)
Elevation	520 m (1,710 ft)
Population
• Total	unknown[1]
Time zone	EET (UTC+2)
• Summer (DST)	+3 (UTC)

Kobanî, also known as Ayn al-Arab (Arabic: عين العرب‎ North Levantine pronunciation: [ʕeːn elˈʕɑrɑb]), is a city in the Aleppo Governorate in northern Syria, lying immediately south of the border with Turkey. As a consequence of the Syrian Civil War, the city has been under control of the Kurdish YPG militia since 2012. In 2014, it was unofficially declared to be the administrative center of the Kobanî Canton of Rojava.

From September 2014 to January 2015 the city was under siege by Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. Most of the city was destroyed and most of the population fled to Turkey.^[2] In 2015 many returned and reconstruction began.

Prior to the Syrian Civil War, Kobanî was recorded as having a population of close to 45,000.^[3] The majority of inhabitants were Kurds, with Arab, Turkmen, and Armenian minorities.^[4]

Name

The origin of the name Kobanî (كوباني) is the word company, referring to the German railway company^[5] who built that section of the Konya-Baghdad Railway from 1911.^[6][7][8][9]

The Ottoman Turkish name given to the area was Arab Pinar "Spring of the Arabs" (also spelled Arab Punar; Modern Turkish pınar "spring"), referring to the surrounding region, which comprised about 170 villages; the name referred to waterholes which were frequented annually by local Bedouins); it was chosen as the name of the station around which the town later grew. As part of the Turkification effort at the time, Ottoman authorities introduced the official name Mürşitpınar ("Spring of the Teacher") instead, which is still used as the name for the Turkish side of the border crossing.^[10] The Arabic name ʿAyn al-ʿArab, "Spring of the Arabs", a translation of the Ottoman Turkish name Arab Pinar, was introduced officially by the Syrian government as part of a broader Arabization effort in the 1980s.^[11][6][7]

History

Ottoman Empire and before

Prior to World War I, the area was mainly populated by semi-nomadic Kurdish tribes, many but not all part of the Milli confederation. These tribes had progressively migrated in from the north during the 19th century, pushing back the Arab tribes which had previously occupied the area.^[12] Local Kurds living in the plains to the east of the modern town reportedly provided lodgings at their encampment for a French-led archaeological team on its way to survey the nearby ancient Assyrian site of Arslan Tash in the summer of 1883.^[13]

As of 1892, there were three homesteads situated in the area.^[14] During the construction of the Baghdad Railway, Kurdish raiders from the Busrawi and Shahin Bey clans—rivals who lived on opposite sides of the valley in which the modern town is situated; reportedly harassed work crews attempting to mine basalt from the nearby hills, partially owing to the fact that the German companies responsible for its construction were lax in providing payment and compensation to local landowners.^[12] German engineers staying in the area from 1912 to 1913 described Arab Punar as a "small Kurdish village around 35 km east of the Euphrates" comprising a small cluster of square mud-brick huts, many with domed roofs; the local chief's hut was notable among these in its incorporation of European-style doors and windows and its concrete flooring. The area was apparently also known for its swarms of biting sand-flies.^[15]

The modern town began to form around the simple train station built in 1912 along the railway by workers from the nearby town of Suruç.^[9] The train station was part of a railway project launched by the Ottoman government to connect Baghdad with Berlin, Germany.^[8] Armenian refugees fleeing the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire founded a village next to the train station in 1915, and were soon joined by more Kurds from nearby areas.^[8][9]

French Empire

Many of the Kurds who settled in Kobanî came there after fleeing or being deported from Kurdish areas in Turkey as a result of the Kurdish-led Sheikh Said rebellion in that country in 1925.^[8] After demarcation of the border with Turkey along the railway line in 1921, part of the town was left on the other side of the border, today incorporated in the Suruç district as Mürşitpınar and there is an eponymous border crossing. By the middle of the 20th century, there were three Armenian churches and two schools in the town, but most of the Armenian population emigrated to the Soviet Union in the 1960s.^[16][17] The town was also home to a small Syriac Orthodox community, their numbered dwindelled rapidly and the town's only Syriac Orthodox church was demolished in the early 1960s.^[18]

The city's infrastructural layout was largely planned and constructed by French authorities during the Mandatory period, and a number of French-built buildings are still standing and in use today.^[4] During this period, the city of Suruç served as the regional center of Kobanî. The area was marked by several border crossings with Turkey, unsanctioned by either the Turkish or French Mandatory governments. The crossings became a source of numerous Turkish complaints and led to the establishment of a French intelligence office in Kobanî to monitor border activity.^[8] Throughout the 20th century, the border remained officially closed even as the neighbouring towns of Tall Abyad and Jarablus—both of which had smaller Kurdish populations—were allowed to have commercial border crossings, a situation which economically marginalised Kobanî for many years.^[19] This official isolation lasted until 2010, when a small gate was established between Kobanî and the adjacent Turkish village of Mürşitpınar.^[20]

Syria pre-autonomy

When Syria gained independence from France in 1946, the intelligence building served as the political office of the Kobanî area's highest-ranking local administrator. Kobanî started to develop as a city in the 1950s when it was further separated from Suruç as a result of the Turkish government mining of the border area.

Besiege by Islamic State

In 2012, during the ongoing Syrian Civil War, the building started to be used by Kurdish militiamen as their security headquarters in city. In 2014, the building was hit by US airstrikes after its occupation by militants from Islamic State group.^[8] The People's Protection Units (YPG) captured Kobanî on 19 July 2012.^[21] Since July 2012, Kobanî has been under Kurdish control, while the YPG and Kurdish politicians anticipate autonomy for the area, which they consider part of Rojava.^[22] After similar less intense events earlier in 2014, on July 2 the town and surrounding villages came under a massive attack from fighters of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.^[23] On September 16, ISIL resumed its siege of Kobanî with a full-scale assault from the west and the south of the city. On January 6, 2015, the Combined Joint Task Force targeted 8 airstrikes in the city, destroying 14 ISIL fighting positions and a building.^[24]

Kobanê during the bombardment of ISIL targets by US-led forces. Photo taken from Turkish-Syrian border at Suruç,Suruc, Turkey showing refugee camp in the middle distance (October 2014)

Kobanî Canton has been attacked by ISIL militants for several months. In September 2014, militants occupied most of Kobanî Canton, seizing more than 100 Kurdish villages.^[25][26] As a consequence of the ISIL occupation, up to 200,000 Kurdish refugees fled from Kobanî Canton to Turkey.^[25] Turkish authorities did not allow the refugees to enter with any vehicles or livestock that they had.^[27]

In captured villages, militants committed massacres and kidnapped women.^[26] IS militants, however, were not able to occupy the entire canton, as the YPG and YPJ forces managed to defend the town of Kobanî and several nearby settlements. After weeks of isolation, as a result of Turkey blocking arms and fighters from entering the town, due to the general hostility of the Turkish establishment towards Kurds with any links to the PKK, the US-led coalition began to target ISIL with a larger number of airstrikes. This move aided the YPG/YPJ in forcing ISIL to retreat from numerous parts of the town. However, according to a YPG official, Turkey was still blockading the town, rendering the position of the YPG/YPJ in Kobanî as vulnerable.^[28] Nonetheless, on 20 October there were reports that Turkey, under significant US pressure, would allow Kurdish fighters from Iraqi Kurdistan to cross into Kobanî.^[29] About 150 Kurdish troops were admitted on 29 October, which then began to turn the tide of the siege in favor of the Kurds. The YPG reportedly forced ISIL to retreat from most of Kobanî on 26 January 2015,^[2] thus lifting the siege apart from mopping-up operations in areas where YPG forces believed ISIL leaders might be hiding.^[30] The city is currently under YPG control.

Reconstruction

The Kobane Reconstruction Board has asked for international assistance. ^[31]

References

External links

• Recommendations for reconstructing Kobani

Aleppo Governorate Capital: Aleppo   Mount Simeon District Aleppo Abtin Anadan Babis Banis Barnah Barqum Bawabiyah Darat Izza Fah al-Farafirah Haddadin al-Hader Hayyan Humayrah Hur Huraytan al-Hutah Huweir al-Iss al-Iss Injarah Jazraya Jubb Kas Kafr Hamrah Kafr Saghir Kfar Da’el Khan al-Asal Khan Tuman Maarat al-Antiq al-Mintar al-Muslimiyah al-Muslimiyah al-Shamaliyah Qaras Qibtan al-Jabal al-Sakhriyah Shaykh Najjar Sheikh Maqsood Taqad Tell al-Daman Tell Hidyah Tell Shughayb Tell Shuayr Samaan al-Wadihi Yaqid al-Adas Zammar Zitan al-Zirbah   Azaz District Azaz Akhtarin Bayanoun Dabiq Deir Jamal Fafin Herbel Ihras Ihtaimlat Jarez Kafra Kafr Kalbin Kafr Naya Kaljibrin Ma'arat Umm Hawsh Manaq Mare' Mayer Nubl Ratyan Sawran Shaykh Issa Talalin Tell Jabin Tell Qarah Tell Rifaat al-Zahraa al-Yamamah Ziadiyah   Afrin District Afrin Ain Dara Aqiba Awlad al-Arab Barad Baselhaya Basouta Beit Adin Bulbul Burj Abdullah Burj Haider Darmashkanli Deir Ballut Fafertin Jalbul Jalmah Jindires Inab Kafr Safra Kimar Karzahayel Maabatli Maryamin Maydan Ikbis Qatma Rajo Sharran Shaykh al-Hadid   Atarib District Atarib al-Abzamo Batibo al-Jinah Ibbin Samaan Kafr Halab Kafr Karmin Kafr Naha Kafr Nasih al-Atarib Kafr Nuran Maarat Atarib Awayjil al-Sahharah al-Shaykh Ali Urum al-Kubra Urum al-Sughra   Ayn al-Arab District Avdiko Ayn al-Arab al-Farazdaq al-Haqel Jaadat al-Samaawat al-Jalbiyah Jubb Faraj Kabir Qibbah Qinayah Ramilah Ras al-Ayn Qibli Sarrin Shayukh Fawqani Shayukh Tahtani Tell Abyad Tahtani   Al-Bab District al-Bab Arima Bizaah Maran Qabbasin al-Rayi Tedef Tell Rahal   Dayr Hafir District Dayr Hafir Humaymah Kabirah al-Jabbul Kuwayris Sharqi Mazburah al-Raa'i Rasm al-Abed Rasm Harmil al-Imam Shaykh Ahmad Tell Ayoub   Jarabulus District Jarabulus al-Ghandurah Jarabulus Tahtani al-Jamel al-Suwaydah   Manbij District Manbij Abu Kahf Abu Qilqil Arab Hassan Kabir Awsajli Kabir Dakhirah Haymar Labidah Hayyah Kabirah Jubb Hamza Al-Khafsah Khan al-Humr al-Maamurah al-Mahsanah Khafsah Maskanah Mallah Mujammaa Huttin al-Nasiriyah Fawqani Qashlat Yusef Basha Ras al-Ayn al-Bumane' Saan al-Ghazal al-Tadamon Talhuthan Tell Aswad al-Zahirah   Al-Safira District al-Safira Abu Jurayn al-Safirah Aqrabah Banan al-Hajib Hawwaz Khanasir Qulayaa al-Samiriyah Tat Tell Aran Tell Hasil Zira'ah

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Coordinates: 36°53′23″N 38°21′20″E / 36.88972°N 38.35556°E / 36.88972; 38.35556