COPENHAGEN, Denmark – A Swedish football club started by Kurdish immigrants took its appeal for Kobane to the field, raising a huge sign and 3,000 euros during a match for the Syrian-Kurdish city resisting a takeover by Islamic State (ISIS).
The Dalkurd football club drew widespread attention two weeks ago in the Swedish media for flashing a “Save Kobane” sign during a game, earning warnings by the Swedish Football Federation, which called the act “political.”
"We do not care about their warnings or any eventual penalties,” Ramazan Kizil, head of Dalkurd, told Rudaw. “They (the federation) call it political, we call it human solidarity," he added.
“We can’t just sit and watch while Kobane gets massacred. We must do something," said Adil Kizil, Ramazan’s son and sports manager of the club, which started a decade ago.
During the 90-minute match when Dalkurd appealed for Kobane, the club collected 3,000 euros at the stadium.
Kurds around the world have mobilized in support of Kobane, staging high-profile protests in Europe, hunger strikes and drives for clothes and money. Some of the largest have been in Scandinavian countries, which host large numbers of Kurdish immigrants.
Turkey says that some 200,000 refugees from Kobane have flooded across its border since renewed ISIS attacks on the city about five weeks ago.
Tens of thousands of Kobane Kurds have fled the embattled city for Turkey and the Kurdistan Region since ISIS began renewed assaults more than a month ago.
Ramazan Kizil said he recently tried to travel to Kobane himself, but was stopped by Turkish border guards.
In Denmark some Kurds - and two ethnic Danes – went on hunger strikes to draw attention to ISIS attacks on Kobane and Shingal, a town of Yezidi Kurds in northern Iraq that was overrun by the militants in August.
Demonstrations and concerts in Copenhagen have drawn big crowds and some big names, including Nizamettin Aric, a leading figure in Kurdish music and cinema who is originally from Turkey but has lived in exile in Germany for 34 years.
“The Syrian Kurds have always opened their doors to Iraqi and Turkish Kurds on the run,” Aric told Rudaw. “They have sacrificed thousands of martyrs for our cause. Now it's our turn to help them,” he added.
Yildiz Akdogan, a Kurdish MP in the Danish parliament, said it was important for the people of Kobane to know they are not alone. “We are many who support the Kurds in Kobane in these difficult conditions,” she said.
Kurds also have launched collections through Hevya Sor, the Kurdish Red Crescent. The humanitarian organization Roja Sor (Red Sun) has daily received 5-6 bags of clothes, blankets, quilts and shoes.
"We can’t remain indifferent while our country burns," said Bengin Sulivani, head of Roja Sor.
A recent rally in the Norwegian city of Sandes, home to a large Kurdish community that has been active in raising awareness for Kurds in Syria and Iraq, drew big crowds.
Shara Ali, project manager at the Kurdish Student Organization (KSO) in Norway, said her organization had staged torchlight processions, demonstrations and campaigns to collect money for Kobane refugees.
“Our aim is to go to the Turkey-Syria border, to the refugee camps, and buy medicine, food, clothing, etc.,” Ali said.
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