Tens of Thousands Attend Funeral for YPG Fighters in Qamişlo

 

(ANF) Tens of thousands of people have taken part in the funeral ceremony for YPG fighters killed in recent clashes in Til Hemis and Til Berek. Thousands of mourners accompanied the bodies of the fighters as they were brought to Qamişlo along two different routes, as people gathered in the city from around the Jazira region of north-eastern Syria. The Society for the Families of Martyrs and the Democratic Society Movement (TEV-DEM) organized the funeral ceremony, in which people of all ages participated.

Major roads into the city were decorated with flags and signs showing support for the YPG and YPJ, while local businesses closed their shops out of respect and solidarity with the slain fighters. Mourners traveling from Serêkaniyê, Dirbesiyê, Til Temir and Hasekê gathered at the entrance of Qamişlo before continuing into the city center. Mourners arriving from Dêrik, Girkê Legê and Tirbespiyê in the east formed a second procession. Arabs, Syriacs/Assyrians, Türkmen, Chechens and Armenians took part in the ceremony alongside Kurds.

Many chanted slogans such as “down with treachery” and “long live the YPG” as they carried the coffins – draped in green, yellow and red – to the Cemetery of the Marty Delil Saruxan. A large poster of the Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan was unfurled at the site. All the region’s political parties and civil society organizations were represented at the funeral, with people carrying the flags of the YPG, TEV-DEM, Yekitiya Star, the PYD, and Movement of Revolutionary Youth. Also present were members of the recently formed Democratic Autonomous Governing Legislative Council.

Hesen Qamişlo, the YPG Qamişlo regional commander, spoke at the ceremony. Remembering Xebat Derik, a leading member of TEV-DEM and one of the founders of the YPG, Qamişlo told the crowd that “our strength grows with our martyrs. It is honor that Qamişlo has become of the capital of martyrs.” The YPG commander then went on to promise that the legacy of the fighters who lost their lives were continue.

Henife Hisen, a member of the Executive Council of TEV-DEM, drew attention to the upcoming Geneva-2 Conference and pointed how the Syrian opposition had done nothing to benefit the Syrian revolution but had only served the interests of foreign powers. She went on to stress how parties within the Syrian Kurdish National Council (ENKS) had cooperated with the Syrian coalition and against the YPG in Til Berek and Til Hemis.

Hisen el Ezzam also spoke in the name of the Democratic Autonomous Governing Legislative Council, Mihemed Musa in the name of the Left Party, and Bersum Bersu in the name of the Syriac Democratic Party. In addition Remziye Mehemed spoke in the name of the Civil Christian Society, the Syrian Youth and Qamişo People’s Council, while Nuri Ebabekir spoke in the name of the Society for the Families of Martyrs and Niha İska spoke in the name of the Kurdish National Youth Organization. Throughout their speeches each paid tribute to the resistance of the YPG and the sacrifices of the dead fighters, and each voiced their support for the project of Democratic Autonomy.

Arjin Derik, from the Movement of Revolutionary Youth, announced the start of a solidarity campaign with the YPG, while many young people were sworn into its ranks. At the end of the ceremony the names of the dead fighters were read off one by one.