The people of Manbij, who had set up a martyrs' cemetery as soon as they were rid of ISIS tyranny, protested the Turkish state and said, “We didn’t want ISIS tyranny and we don’t want Turkish tyranny now either.”
Setting up martyrs' cemeteries is a way for societies to show respect and commemorate their dead, especially those who lost their lives fighting for them. But ISIS gangs and the Turkish state tear them down, telling the people that they don’t recognize any of their values.
The cemeteries of Manbij were torn down after the city fell under ISIS invasion in January 2014. On June 6, 2016, the city was liberated in the Faysal Abu Layla operation carried out by the Manbij Military Council, SDF and the International Coalition Against ISIS, and in the two years since the people of Manbij both repaired their cemeteries and set up their first martyrs' cemetery.
Martyrs who lost their lives in the Raqqa and Tabqa operations were buried in the Manbij Martyrs' Cemetery, and the people started to bring the Manbij operation martyrs buried elsewhere.
Manbij can freely show its respect for the martyrs, but now they are threatened by the Turkish state, infamous for tearing down cemeteries like their partner ISIS. The people of Manbij don’t have extensive information on the Turkish state attacks against guerilla cemeteries in Northern and Southern Kurdistan, but they saw the bombings during the invasion of Afrin.
We got the chance to visit the Manbij Martyrs' Cemetery on April 2. We watched how the martyrs of the Manbij operation were buried and spoke to the people about the threats of the Turkish state, which shows animosity towards even the dead.
“WE BUILT THE CEMETERY AFTER MANBIJ WAS LIBERATED"
Kifaya Ali from the Martyrs’ Families Organization administration stated that the Manbij Martyrs' Cemetery was built after the operation to liberate Manbij and continued:
“Right now there are some 150 martyrs in the cemetery. All of them were children of Manbij. We also buried the martyrs who lost their lives in the Raqqa and Tabqa operations here.
And we are bringing in our previous martyrs, because we didn’t have a martyrs' cemetery before due to ISIS and the war, so we buried them elsewhere to hide them. But after Manbij was liberated we started to bring our martyrs to bury them in our own cemetery. Today we brought back four of our martyrs and we are burying them here. But like ISIS tore down our cemeteries in the past, we saw Turkey tearing down martyrs’ cemeteries in Afrin. We don’t want Turkey in Manbij, because we know that they are no different from ISIS.”
“WE DON’T ACCEPT TURKEY"
Kevser Hamo stated that they used to bury the martyrs of Manbij in Mellawi and added: “After we built our martyrs’ cemetery we started to bring the martyrs there back here. We built this martyrs’ cemetery here, which is good, we can all come and visit now. We are glad we built the martyrs’ cemetery.”
On the Turkish state wishing to invade Manbij after bombing martyrs’ cemeteries in Afrin, Hamo said ISIS also tore down cemeteries in Manbij, and continued: “These people are dead and gone, a dead person can’t do anything. What can they achieve by tearing down cemeteries? There are those who live, we are still alive. They tore down the cemeteries but we are alive still. We will work in the place of our martyrs and we will build our martyrs’ cemeteries again. We don’t accept Turkey entering Manbij. My husband and one of my sons were martyred in Kobanê, and ISIS took away another son of mine. Just because we are Kurdish. Today we are doing well in Manbij. There is no difference between Kurd, Arab, Circassian or Turkmen. We are all ‘us’. We love this life, we don’t want the Turkish state.”
“WE DON’T WANT ISIS TYRANNY RENEWED AT THE HANDS OF TURKS”
Muhammed Ali Bas from Manbij stated that his cousin is also buried in the Manbij cemetery and added:
“ISIS beheaded and killed many of our people in Manbij. After the SDF liberated Manbij, we had peace. But now the Turkish state is threatening Manbij. Like they burned and destroyed and killed people in Afrin, Turkey now wants to do the same in Manbij. We don’t want Turkey to come here and oppress us again like ISIS. We gave all these martyrs in the fight against ISIS. We don’t want ISIS to come back through the hands of Turkey. They destroyed Afrin. If Turkey enters Manbij they will destroy it too. We don’t want Turkey.”
