MESOP FACING KOBANE – CLICK FÜR FULL SOLIDARITY STATEMENT OF 250 SCHOLARS

Scholars join worldwide calls for action on stricken town

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – More than 250 international Kurdish studies scholars have issued a call for action to support the Syrian Kurdish town of Kobane, which has been under siege by Islamic State fighters for more than three weeks. – They added their voices to a crescendo of demands worldwide for international action to relieve the beleaguered border town.

A statement issued by the Kurdish Studies Network, which has more than 1,000 members at academic institutions worldwide, urged coalition forces and the international community “to take immediate action to prevent an impending disaster by supporting the Kurds in their fight for self-defence.”

The signatories include Kurds and non-Kurds such as Professor Nadje Al-Ali of the University of London, Onur Gunay of Princeton University, and Marlene Schäfers of the University of Cambridge.The scholars are “profoundly concerned about yet another imminent humanitarian crisis and stand in solidarity with the people of Kobane”. They said the advance of the ISIS forces towards Kobane is “threatening to set off another massacre similar to that of Shengal” or Singal, which was overrun by ISIS militants in August, prompting an exodus of tens of thousands of Iraq’s Yazidi religious minority.

“We…call on the international coalition forces and the broader international community to support Kobane immediately,” said the statement, whose signatories represent some of the major institutions of learning in Europe and North America as well as the region.

“In expressing our solidarity, we need to stress the fact this statement is not a call for any military aggression or occupation, including that of the Turkish military. We encourage the Turkish government to negotiate with the Kurdish representatives in good faith to ensure the ongoing peace process, which holds much promise,” the academics said, in reference to Turkey’s stalled peace process with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

“As Kurdish political representatives of Rojava [western Syrian Kurdistan] have repeatedly declared, if they are recognized as a legitimate authority and provided with the needed weaponry and other support, they are capable of driving away the threat of the IS.”

The scholars said the Syrian Kurds are again asking for diplomatic and political recognition, weapons of self-defence, and humanitarian aid. “They are too ill-equipped to be able to fend off the most advanced American and Russian arsenals used by the IS,” said their statement. “If global support is not provided immediately, they may not be able to withstand… the incessant bombardments; tomorrow may be too late.”

The full text of the statement is available at: http://kurdishstudiesnetwork.net/2014/10/07/kurdish-studies-scholars-statement-of-solidarity-and-call-for-action-to-support-kobani/