KOBANÎ: The Undesired Picture / POEM BY Shahin Bekir Sorekli

A name misleadingly used and abused

Turned into a legendary trap

For the Americans to drop bombs on the enemy.

The foe was smashed but so was the trap

And the dancers danced and danced

Narrating the jingles of “victory”

While the town was no longer there

And the residents refugees in despair.

The young sacrificed themselves

While their people became the victims

Of “a strategy” that was about the enemy

Drawn in places far away

Containing no paragraphs

Concerned with “collateral damage.”

The naive hungry for “heroism” were fooled

By the sounds of drums from the distance

While an entire district was being ruined

And Kobani was dying in pain.

Today the enemy is no longer there

But a dark blanket is hiding the bitter truth

Covering the dead corpse of Kobani

Hundreds of villages robbed of everything

And so many who lost all they had

Longing for homes that are no longer there.

And there is no mention of a “Marshall Plan”

By anyone or anywhere

Not even from the UN that is acting

As of the whole tragedy unaware

For the victims who were betrayed

Are not in Europe or America

But from a region that is damned in hell.

And the world that loved Kobani fighting

Enjoying the scenes of “heroism” against Daesh

Is not interested in watching more ruins

For “God knows, we already have enough bad news!”

And the Kurdish bosses guard the blanket

For what lays beneath is unpleasant

Not even the distant Kurds would like to see.

So the songs and the dances of the fools continue

While the fortune hunters resume their hunt

Abusing the name of Kobani even in death.

And someone shouts from the distance:

Forget it all Newroz* is on the way

It will bring us a new day

And the Kurds will dance around the fire

That will burn all the past sins

And revive many sweet dreams.

Chahin Baker (Shahin Bekir Sorekli) : 03/2015

* Newroz = The Kurdish National Day, the beginning of the Kurdish New Year, the beginning of spring in Kurdistan.