Artists to gather at Rojava border to condemn ISIL’s assault on Kobane

ISTANBUL

Members of the popular folklore band Kardeş Türküler are among the artists who will attend the demonstration at the Syrian border.

A group of artists have announced they will gather at Turkey’s border with the pre-dominantly Kurdish region of northeastern Syria – known as Rojava – to protest the latest assault of Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) militants on the town of Kobane.

Popular folklore band Kardeş Türküler, folk musician and Peoples’ Democratic Party’s (HDP) co-candidate for Istanbul mayoralty at the March 30 elections Pınar Aydınlar, movie director Hüseyin Karabey are among the group of more than 50 artists who will attend the protest at the border.

“There is an attempt to take back the gains of the people of Rojava through a systematic attack under the mask of ‘Islam’ to bring back the darkness of the Middle Ages,” a joint statement from the artists said.

“We will go to the [Syrian] border to protest the brutal massacres and the attacks on Rojava,” the statement added.

The Islamist group, which has changed its name to Islamic State (IS), has renewed its offensive on Kobane, which is only a few kilometers’ distance from the Turkish border, near the Mürşitpınar crossing in the Şanlıurfa province.

The artists’ statement comes as a group of 40 Alevi spiritual leaders – called “dedes” (grandfathers) – have also announced that they will organize a support demonstration at the border.

According to Kurdish news sources, the jihadists are staging a sustained attack, using heavy weapons seized during their offensive in Iraq.

IS has taken hold of a vast region in northern Syria around Raqqa, which it considers its “capital.”