ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - Turkey’s main pro-Kurdish party on Friday called for urgent aid to the besieged, symbolic Kurdish city of Kobane in northern Syria, stressing that a lack of water, electricity, food, and internet is threatening a humanitarian crisis. 

Kobane has been subjected to intense bombardment and shelling since the Syrian Arab Army and its affiliated factions blatantly violated a Sunday ceasefire between Damascus and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

The attacks are threatening to sour the city’s heroic fight against the Islamic State (ISIS) in 2014, which saw the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) – supported by Kurds from Turkey and Kurdish Peshmerga forces from the Kurdistan Region – push back a last advance by jihadists against a pocket of resistance left in the city. 

“Now Kobane is under siege. There's no water, no electricity, no internet. It urgently needs food aid, for example. So there's really a humanitarian issue happening there. We particularly emphasized this when we said it's not just a Kurdish issue,” Aysegul Dogan, spokesperson for the Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party), said in a statement.

The DEM Party has been the mediator between the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and Ankara during the ongoing peace process in Turkey.

Ankara, the main ally of the new authorities in Damascus, alleges that the YPG, the SDF’s backbone, is the Syrian offshoot of the PKK.

“We made calls from the very beginning to responsible countries, guarantor countries, and countries that could be facilitators regarding the opening of a negotiation path. Especially to Turkey, as you know, we made calls for it to play a constructive role in this matter. We said it should absolutely not play a destructive role. Turkey should play a unifying role in Syria,” Dogan added.

The conflict is integrally linked to a March 10 agreement signed by Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa and SDF chief Mazloum Abdi to integrate the Kurdish force and institutions into the Syrian apparatus.

Negotiations have stalled as the SDF demands democratic integration and Damascus insists on its centralized rule.

Dogan said it appears that efforts are underway to find solutions, but “real integration” requires an ensured ceasefire and that the siege and attacks on Rojava stop.

Damascus has launched a brutal offensive against Rojava in a bid to secure interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s vision of a united, centralized Syria, despite the country’s marginalized minorities repeatedly calling for federalism. 

The assault has left hundreds dead and forced Kurdish-led forces, who defeated ISIS in Syria, to cede swathes of territory and withdraw to Hasaka province, with the attacking Syrian forces violating ceasefires, committing human rights violations, and possibly war crimes in their offensive. 

Kobane is a symbol of resistance not only for Kurds, but globally in the fight against ISIS.