Hundreds of Kurdish expatriates in Copenhagen were in celebration mode yesterday after news filtered through that the jihadist organisation Islamic State had been almost completely driven out of the Syrian border city of Kobani.
Colourful balloons, traditional dancing and howls of celebration were all on display as about 150 people took to the streets in front of the Danish Kurdish Culture Centre in Valby.
“It means a lot that Kobani has been liberated,” Ibis Tas, a spokesperson for the Danish department of the Kurdish party PYD, told Ekstra Bladet tabloid. “It's a symbolic city for all Kurds and we know that if IS had managed to take Kobani, they would have moved on to another city.”
“Almost everyone here tonight has family or loved ones in Kobani: either a cousin, brother or sister who has gone over there. Myself included. So we've all tried to help in one way or another. Of course, we haven't all fought with the military, but we've helped with supplies, medicine or humanitarian aid.”
READ MORE: Danish soldiers begin training Kurdish troops
IS still a force
Kobani – located just inside the north Syrian border with Turkey – has been a warzone since IS began its siege of the city in August last year.
Despite the IS withdrawal, there are no signs that the jihadists are losing the war. The organisation still controls about one third of Syria and Iraq.
Denmark is part of an international coalition that is bombing strategic IS targets in the area, but only in Iraq, as dictated by the Danish parliament.
