After Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg council in Berlin signed a twinning agreement with the municipality of Dêrik in Rojava Kurdistan, now the city of Herford took the first step to sign the agreement with with Kobanê.
The Herford and Rojava / Kobanê Twinning Initiative was established recently in Herford, Germany.
The initiative, joined by branches of the German Trade Union Association (DGB) and the German Education and Science Union (GEW) in Herford, also involved many Kurdish and German organizations, and is working to twin the cities.
In Herford, North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), there is a population of 66,000, and live migrants from many countries, except from Kurds. The initiative wants to build a bridge with Kobanê.
According to ANF German service journalist, Zübeyde Polat, many projects with Kobanê have been approved in the city council. All groups supported the projects except from members of the far-right party Alternative for Germany (AfD).
Die Linke Ulrich Adler and SPD Friedel Böhse presented the project for twinning the cities and the first step towards this agreement is the comittment by Herford to support the needs of Kobanê, which is carrying out its reconstruction process following the war against ISIS.
In addition, the Municipality of Herford wants to benefit from the experiences of the multicultural, language and ethnic municipality model established in Kobanê, as well as in other cities in Northern Syria.
Herford municipality was particular curious about the co-chairmanship system and the autonomous administration model.
Last June, mayors of the city of Dêrik and Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg signed the twinning agreement in a ceremony in Berlin.
