After an epic 136-day resistance against ISIS that put Kobanê on the world’s agenda, the municipalities of Van and Diyarbakır have mobilised to repair urgent facilities in the city, such as drinking water and the sewage system. These municipalities will also lead reconstruction efforts in Kobanê.

A conference was held in Diyarbakır on 2 and 3 May to discuss the reconstruction of Kobanê, which was attended by over 300 people. Although  Kobanê was entirely cleansed of ISIS gangs on 27 January, the city was devastated. The Diyarbakır and Van municipalities are to play a leading role in the reconstruction of the city. Van Co-mayor Hatice Çoban and Diyarbakır Co-mayor Fırat Anlı talked to DİHA about the reconstruction project.

'To take ownership of Kobanê is to take ownership of peace'

Van Co-mayor Hatice Çoban said that Kobanê had become a symbolic city and that it should therefore be a museum. Çoban said they wished to play a role in the rebuilding of the city and were in Kobanê with their technical equipment.  She added that Kobanê needed assistance from engineers, architects and writers from all over the world. “To take ownership of the reconstruction of Kobanê is to take ownership of democracy, peace, women, youth and the future,” she said.

'We know our responsibilities'

Çoban said the municipality would provide services such as sewage pipes and asphalt for the roads, adding that they knew their responsibilities and felt they were repaying a debt to those who had liberated Kobanê.

'We find it difficult as we do not have control of the border crossings’

Diyarbakır Co-mayor Fırat Anlı said they were prioritising urgent humanitarian problems, adding that they were not always able to carry out all they wanted on account of not having control of the border crossings. Anlı said: “Our colleagues have made initial studies of the infrastructure of Kobanê, as we do not have access to the road and utilities plans of the Syrian regime.

Anlı added: "Now the most urgent thing that needs to be undertaken is to provide drinking water for the close to a hundred thousand people who have returned to Kobanê. The sewers also need to be repaired immediately and new pipes installed in places where there are none.”

He emphasised that a large part of Kobanê was in ruins and that under the rubble there were still corpses, mines and unexploded ordinance that needed to be cleared. Anlı said they would continue to provide whatever support was needed in Kobanê.

'Rebuilding the city is paying our debt’

"What we will do is to pay our debt to the hundreds of people we lost, and to the tens of thousands who had to flee the city," said Anlı, adding that they would support Kobanê in every way they could. He called for worldwide support and concrete projects to aid reconstruction efforts in Kobanê.