Sometimes you have to take invisible paths to get where you want to arrive. While part of the caravan was held up at the Turkish border, another part disappeared for a while, only to reappear in Suruç, Bakur. Suruç is 7 kilometers from the Syrian border, 7 kilometers from the still-besieged city of Kobanê. The humanitarian situation there continues to worsen. Supplies are scarce and temperatures are low. During the so-called ceasefire, which is repeatedly broken by the Syrian army, the Turkish state is currently deploying tanks and artillery to the border with Kobanê.

That is precisely why we made us on the way to Kobanê – to break the siege, to show solidarity and to defend the city of hope. The city that has already defeated IS once and was celebrated worldwide for it.

When we arrived in Suruç, we were welcomed by the local population and the DEM party with flowers, food, and hugs. We held a press conference, which was also broadcasted live on Kurdish television.

In the conference, we criticized the international community for not taking a strong enough stance on the attacks against the Kurdish population and the Democratic Self-Administration. On the contrary, there is open cooperation with the so-called transitional government and the Islamist ruler al-sharaa. This cooperation must be stopped immediately.

When we left Suruç by bus after participating in a demonstration, we were stopped and arrested by the Turkish police. They took us to Urfa in police buses. From there, we are supposed to continue on to Istanbul. It is unclear how long we will remain in deportation custody.

Despite the arrests, we did not allow ourselves to be intimidated and remained determined. We sang Kurdish songs loudly inside the police buses, so loudly that the bus driver turned on Turkish nationalist songs to drown us out. No chance. “I would die for you, Turkey,” said one of the songs. Our songs testified to life and to our common resistance. We will continue to sing, continue to fight.

Yesterday morning, we set off for the Turkish border—with flying flags and morale high. It turned out pretty much as we had expected: the border officials took our passports, made us wait, and finally turned us away. It comes as no suprise that the turkish state does not want to let us in, as with our campain we draw attention to the war in which turkey is closely involved.

At the same time, we received news from Bakur, the Kurdish part of Turkey, that a delegation of democratic youth organizations, which was also traveling as part of the Peoples Caravan, had been arrested. The friends, including several journalists, were on their way back by bus from the border town of Nusaybin, where they had accompanied the protests and documented the actions of the Turkish state. They were taken into custody pending deportation. This shows once again that the Turkish state wants to suppress critical voices and prevent media coverage.

In Turkey, hundreds of people have been arrested on the streets in recent days, mostly with reference to the restrictive assembly law and “terrorist propaganda.” In northwestern Turkey, a nurse was reportedly arrested for posting a video online in which she braided her hair as part of a protest campaign. Braiding the resistance. Resistance can take many forms.

After our protest at the Turkish border, we returned to Thessaloniki to gather our strength and get an overview of the situation. There is always a lot of organizational work to be done, a lot of media work, a lot of meetings. Even though we have now been stopped, we encourage everyone to become part of the caravan to Kobanê. The caravan is not just us. The caravan is all the people who want to defend Rojava in various ways. All the people who want to raise awareness on the situation, support the local population, provide humanitarian aid, and defend democratic values. Bijî Berxwedana Rojava!