MIDEAST-CRISIS/KOBANI REFUGEES Kobani refugees hope to return home

Record ID: 274728

  • Title: MIDEAST-CRISIS/KOBANI REFUGEES Kobani refugees hope to return home
  • Date: 28th January 2015
  • Summary: KOBANI, SYRIA (FILMED FROM MURSITPINAR, TURKEY) (JANUARY 28, 2015) (REUTERS) VARIOUS VIEWS OVER KOBANI MURSITPINAR, TURKEY (JANUARY 28, 2015) (REUTERS) VIEW OVER REFUGEE CAMP WITH MAKESHIFT TENTS PEOPLE WALKING MAN WASHING HIS FACE (SOUNDBITE) (Kurdish) KURDISH REFUGEE FROM KOBANI, NEBU ABDI, SAYING: "We want fellow countrymen and the countries that help Kobani to pave the
  • Embargoed: 12th February 2015 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Turkey
  • Country: Turkey
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA42A8FFX4D7GO5AZT1Q50LW0WY
  • Story Text: Residents of the Syrian town of Kobani sheltering in Turkey said on Wednesday (January 28) they were ready to return home - but only if protection could be provided.
    Kurds said they had taken full control of the northern Syrian town on Monday (January 26) following a four-month battle with Islamic State fighters.
    But battles continued on the outskirts of the town on Tuesday, a monitoring group said.
    Known as Ayn al-Arab in Arabic, the mainly Kurdish town close to the Turkish border has become a focal point in the international fight against Islamic State, an al Qaeda offshoot that has spread across Syria and Iraq.
    Refugees living in a camp on the Turkish side of the border said they wanted to go back home but needed protection.
    "We want fellow countrymen and the countries that help Kobani to pave the way for us to return to our home from Turkey. Let us go home. Security forces should be established there to protect us and prevent cruelty. We should be protected so those vicious people won't come back," said Nebu Abdi.
    There were clashes to the southeast and southwest of Kobani, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, although it added the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) had managed to recapture a village outside the town.
    Refugees said they wanted to see Islamic State forces expelled for good.
    "We want to see those villains completely driven away from our town. We want to be protected. We want countries to help us, help our people. We want to return Kobani and live there without being harmed. We want to see that they are gone for good," said Fadile Ismail.
    The State Department said on Tuesday that the expulsion of Islamic State forces from Kobani had helped stop the momentum of the Islamist group but that it was not a significant turning point in the overall campaign.
    The militants had launched an assault on Kobani in September using heavy weapons seized in Iraq and forcing tens of thousands of people over the border into Turkey.
    There are 3.7 million registered Syrian refugees, including 1.6 million living in Turkey, according to United Nations refugee agency figures.
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