Appeal to President Obama: Extend your humanitarian and military support to Syria’s Kurds

Dear President Obama

As Kurdish Americans with great gratitude we welcome your initiative to respond to the threat of Islamic State in Iraq, Kurdistan region, and Syria.  As you have rightfully noted Islamic State is the greatest threat that our world faces and hence requires a global response.

Mr. President, we are deeply concerned about the new mass exodus of Kurds from Kobani region in Syria. IS is creating another calamity. At least 10000 women, children and men have been driven away from their village and  have sought refuge in Turkey as IS continues to terrorize Kurdish villagers with its tanks and heavy weaponry.

According to the Syrian Observatory, IS has captured more than 60 Kurdish villages; the fate of many villagers is uncertain.  Given the ferocity of IS, over half a million people who live in the besieged area of Kobani are now facing massacres and displacements if the main city falls. Despite repeated warnings of the Kurdish local officials in Syria and their pleas for international assistance, the world has remained reticent and indifferent to their plight.

Dear President, another colossal catastrophe is unfolding before our very eyes if the US does not take the leading role to provide humanitarian and military assistance to Kurds of Syria. As you have said IS knows no borders and only a broad coalition can defeat its growing threat. Syrian Kurds should not be left alone during this critical time. This is not their fight only. We urge you to use the power of your office to extend your humanitarian and military support to Syrian Kurds as well; they are indeed facing an existential threat like the Yazidis and other minorities in Iraq.  This support is necessary to prevent both the horrors of another humanitarian crisis and to stop the murderous and pernicious expansion of the Islamic State.

Cordially

Dr.Amir Sharifi, President of the Kurdish American Education Society