From ISIS to Turkish occupation two massacres in a decade at Burkh Butan

The village of Barkh Botan is located 27 kilometers southwest of Kobani. This village, home to 120 families, relied on agriculture and livestock for their livelihoods, and its residents lived in a peaceful and cooperative atmosphere. However, since 2014, the village has faced a series of attacks by the Turkish occupation state and its mercenaries.

After ISIS mercenaries took control of the Iraqi city of Mosul in 2014, they launched a large-scale attack on the Kobani region on September 15, 2014, with the support of the Turkish state and other regional states.

After occupying 350 villages, including Barkh Botan, ISIS focused its attacks on the city center of Kobani. Then-Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan revealed his plans by saying, "Kobani is falling, it will fall."

However, the People's Protection Units (YPG) and the Women's Protection Units (YPJ) put up a historic resistance against the attack, and all four parts of Kurdistan rose up in support of the resistance, joined by activists and human rights defenders from abroad. As a result of this historic alliance, the city center of Kobani was liberated from ISIS on January 26, 2015.

The liberation of Kobani marked the beginning of the collapse of ISIS mercenaries and their supporters; it was not long before all the villages surrounding the city were liberated.

The Barkh Botan Massacre

After the liberation of the city and surrounding villages, the YPG and YPJ continued their operations against ISIS in the region. During this period, the Turkish occupation state and its affiliated ISIS mercenaries refused to accept the collapse of their mercenaries. On June 25, 2015, the mercenaries, in cooperation with the Turkish occupation state, launched a bloody attack on Kobani, using barbaric methods.

The attack began in the village of Barkh Botan, where the mercenaries killed 23 residents. Similar massacres were also committed in the villages of Zerik and Gire Seve.

Subsequently, ISIS mercenaries wore Internal Security Forces clothes and attacked the city center of Kobani, killing 272 people and wounding hundreds. However, the Women's Protection Units (YPG) and the People's Protection Units (YPG) were able to repel the attackers and completely liberate the city from ISIS remnants.

Turkish State This Time

After the liberation of the area, the residents of Barkh Botan tried to heal their wounds and rebuild their lives. But 10 years later, the Turkish state launched a new attack on the village, using barbaric methods, violating all moral and humanitarian laws.

The attack occurred in the days leading up to Newroz, which symbolizes the liberation of the Kurds and the peoples of the region from oppression and tyranny.

On the night of March 17, at 00:40, while everyone was asleep, a Turkish drone bombed a house in the area between the villages of Barkh Botan and Qomji. The area was also subjected to heavy artillery shelling.

The attack killed a father, a mother, and seven children from one family, while two other children were seriously injured.

Sh-S

ANHA