JINHA

RIHA – In the village of Miseynter, across the border from Kobanê, lives 12-year-old Beritan Aslantekin. Since Beritan's grandfather's historic domed house was turned into a museum and library for the people of Kobanê forced to leave their homes, she says she sees the future differently.

Since the attacks on Kobanê begin, a parallel resistance has been taking place just across the border from Kobanê: the serxet (north of the border) resistance. Thousands of citizens descended on the small villages tied to the border town of Suruç in order to hold a vigil over the Kobanê resistance, watching the fighting every day through their binoculars in spite of severe repression by Turkish soldiers and even Daesh gangs attacking on Turkish soil.

At the same time, communal living in the border villages has enlivened the rural area around Kobanê. Solidarity volunteers founded what may be the region's only library and only museum in Beritan's grandfather's house. Volunteers hope that the Arîn Mîrxan Museum of Martyrs and the Kader Ortakaya Library (both named after famous woman martyrs of the resistance) will remain as a lasting trace of their communal labor long into the future.

Xelil Kılıç's historic domed house was about to collapse when solidarity volunteers moved in to restore it and turn it into a museum, hanging photographs of those who have lost their lives in the fight for freedom.

One of the photographs hanging on the wall belongs to 12-year-old Beritan Aslantekin's uncle, Emin. Emin Aslantekin lost his life with seven others in a clash that broke out 23 years ago in his own home. Beritan says she only ever knew her uncle through photographs.

"It made me happy to see him there next to other comrades like him," said Beritan.

"I'm proud of all the people in the photographs here and of all the martyrs who sacrificed their lives for their people. So many people gave their lives for their own lands, for their friends and for Kobanê. They fought so that people who had to migrate and had their homes occupied by gangs could go back home.

"I want to thank everybody who had the idea and the labor to do this," said Beritan.

(ekip/zd/fk/mg/cm)