- Title: MIDEAST-CRISIS/KIRKUK-RALLY Rally in Iraq's Kirkuk in support of Kobani people
- Date: 9th October 2014
- Summary: KIRKUK, IRAQ (OCTOBER 9, 2014) (REUTERS) PROTESTERS MARCH IN STREET TO SHOW SUPPORT FOR KOBANI PEOPLE MAN CARRYING PLACARD READING 'SAVE KOBANI" VARIOUS OF PEOPLE MARCHING IN STREET MAN CHANTING THROUGH LOUDSPEAKER / KURDISTAN FLAG IN BACKGROUND ROAD / ROWS OF CLOSED SHOPS MAN STANDING OUTSIDE CLOSED SHOP MAN LOCKING GATE OF SHOP MEN SITTING ON STEPS OUTSIDE CLOSED SHOPS C
- Embargoed: 24th October 2014 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Iraq
- Country: Iraq
- Topics: General
- Reuters ID: LVA7VCRTSW24ULABWJO1GPB544I6
- Story Text: People in the northern Iraqi oil city of Kirkuk staged a rally on Thursday (October 9) in support of the Syrian town of Kobani, calling for swift action to save the area from the grip of Islamic State (IS) militants.
The town has become the focus of international attention since the Islamists' advance drove 180,000 of the area's mostly Kurdish inhabitants to flee into adjoining Turkey.
Islamic State has been advancing on the town from three sides and pounding it with artillery, which the U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Thursday was a "tragedy".
People in Kirkuk closed their shops and businesses to march in the streets in a show of support for the people of Kobani.
"We call on the United Nations and the Security Council to intervene in Kobani, and we call for striking terrorists not only in Kobani but in other cities controlled by Daesh terrorists. As a Kurdish city, we rallied and we closed down shops and halted business," said one man, who didn't give his name.
Washington said on Wednesday (October 8) night that the U.S. military and partner nations carried out eight air strikes against Islamic State fighters near Kobani.
However a Kurdish member of Iraq's parliament said the air strikes are not enough, and a stronger intervention was needed.
"We join the call by Kirkuk people, and popular organisations, to denounce what is going on in Kobani. A ferocious war is going on in this besieged city by the world's most ferocious terrorist group. They (Kobani's people) are fighting with light weapons and they are in need of international support. Airstrikes by the international coalition are not enough, it has to be a swift military intervention," said Ala Talabani, addressing members of parliament in Kirkuk.
Talabani also urged Turkey to open its borders and allow Kurdish people fleeing Kobani to continue crossing into its territories.
A monitoring group said Islamic State fighters had seized more than a third of Kobani on Thursday, as U.S.-led air strikes failed to halt their advance and Turkish forces nearby looked on without intervening.
The United Nations says only a few hundred inhabitants remain in Kobani but the town's defenders say the battle will end in a massacre if Islamic State prevails, giving it a strategic garrison on the Turkish border.
They complain that the United States is giving only token support through the air strikes, while Turkish tanks sent to the frontier are looking on but doing nothing to defend the town.
- Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2014. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None