Kobane or Kobani? History won't care, but some locals will

Chris Johannes
More than four years after the predominately-Kurdish city of Kobane gained international fame for resisting a brutal attack by the Islamic State (ISIS), some Kurdish natives of the city believe that media continues to bastardize the spelling of the name of the city.

By the end of six months of fierce fighting, the city was reduced to rubble but something else also happened. Thousands of volunteers from across the region and even the world have poured in to northern Syria known by Kurds as Rojava to help with the fighting against the jihadists. Some natives noticed the pronunciation of their city different than they had said it for generations. 

Such seemingly small changes in transliteration highlight sensitivities which get blown out of proportion in Kurdistan — Shingal/Sinjar, Erbil/Arbil, or the multiple spellings of Sulaimani/Sulaymaniyah. With all due concern to the spellings of one's hometown, throughout history the spellings of cities and countries have morphed. In England within the past millennia, Cambridge has been spelled Cantabrigia, Grantebrycge, and Duroliponte.

Most importantly, the story of a place or events should not be lost. In the Siege of Kobane for example, military historians will not care how the city is spelled; instead, they will document belligerents, differing ideologies, dates, and the decisive outcome for the Kurds and local Arabs over ISIS.

Arguably, an emotional attachment to the homeland and soil is what propelled thousands of Kurds who formed the bulk of the fighting force on the ground to make a last stand against the jihadists and inflict defeat with the help of the US-led international coalition.  

"One most [sic] be careful when eye-balling names in the Kurdish areas ... Some spelling is so close as to deceive.  Afrin/Efrin, Kobane/Kobani regions Kurds + Arabs marriage is typical," claimed one Twitter user in February. 


Arguments over the spelling of the region were common as English-language news outlets reported on the siege and those contretemps have continued.  

"Stop spelling the city 'Kobani' .. It is 'Kobane' in proper English, or Ayn al-Arab to be proper. @CNN , you are the worst at reporting," tweeted one user in 2014.


People from outside spelled it wrong, a mobile shop owner told Rudaw English while in Kobane in late February. "Jazira people did it..." referring to people in Syria east of Kobane. 

Overwhelmingly locals told Rudaw English the name is Kobani, not Kobane; however, the latter currently is used on official documents, street signs, and shops. Some blame the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria since it has gained influence following resistance of the Siege of Kobane from September 2014 to March 2015. Then, Kurds from Turkey, Syria, and Iraq banded together with local Arabs to withstand ISIS what was the turning point in conflict against the militant group in Syria and Iraq.

"It's a mistake," a member of the security forces, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Rudaw English in Kobane. He said the new administration has made some mistakes since it has been in control, but they can fix things slowly and he hopes they will correct the mistake with the name.

Shahin Sorekli (Şahînê Bekirê Soreklî), born in 1946, is a native son of the region. He has lived in Germany and Australia as a journalist, poet, translator and writer. In Australia, he worked for 26 years for the New South Wales Department of Education and Training. Since 2007, he is the executive producer of the Kurdish Language Program at the Special Broadcasting Service of Australia, and he continues to write for several publications.

"It is unfortunate that some reports are full of misinformation about what is going on in Kobani. One mistake is the misspelt name of Kobani that appears as 'Kobane' in some reports," he told Rudaw English.

"This started from the name being misspelt by Kurds not from the town," he said, confirming the local shopkeeper's account.

He explains that the misunderstanding stems from a grammatical mistake similar to the genitive case in German where a noun can become possessive by changing its article to another form. Kurmanji is the most-spoken dialect of the Kurdish language and prevalently spoken in northern parts of Kurdistan, extending into Syria, Turkey, Iraq, and Iran.

While consonants such as 'j' can be transliterated differently as 'c' in English — such is the case with Kurmanji/Kurmanci — they are less frequently changed than vowels, which are often up to media — not academia — to establish styles so their bureaus across the world can quickly find relevant photos and stories.

Unlike English with 26 letters, Kurmanji uses 31. The former lacks the nuanced diacritics — a mark above or below a letter that changes the letter’s pronunciation — like the circumflex in Kobanî/ê. (Kobanî is pronounced like the double-'e' in English's meet, while Kobanê is pronounced like the 'e' in pen.)

No fully accepted and standardized rules for transliteration of Kurmanji-English exist. Google Translate introduced Kurmanji in 2016, although native speakers say the translations are not reliable and need improvement. Google translates Kobani and Kobane as they are inputted.

American linguist Michael Chyet has written the most comprehensive Kurmanji-English volume ever composed, 'Ferhenga Kurmancî-Inglîzî.

"I have encountered both Kobanê and Kobanî. I would recommend asking several Syrian Kurds how they pronounce it," he told Rudaw English.

Chyet, born in 1957, works as a cataloger of Middle Eastern language materials at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., but in his spare time he shares his knowledge of the Kurdish language in academic circles and teaches courses in Kurmanji and Sorani.

He echoed the challenges media and journalists face when transliterating Kurdish names of places and people into English, but he argues the pronunciation is what ultimately matters.

"There is a great deal of variety in the spelling of foreign place names, and what's even worse is the mispronunciations that one hears — even on reputable news channels," he added.

Chyet has argued that Kurds should learn multiple dialects of their language "in both the Latin and Arabic orthographies — on the internet and on TV and radio." 

"The more Kurds read the news in Kurdish, the more uniform the language will become, hopefully; this issue is tied to having an educational system for Kurdish children in Kurdish," he said.