 | A request that this article title be changed to Amuda cinema fire is under discussion . Please do not move this article until the discussion is closed. |
 Memorial statue in Amuda, Syria | |
| Location | Amuda, Syria |
|---|---|
| Type | Structure fire |
| Deaths | 200+ |
Amouda Cinema was a movie theater in Amuda town in Al-Hasakah Governorate of Syria. This cinema burned down in a fire in November 1960 and more than 200 children died inside it, [1] it was believed to have been inspired by ethnic hatred towards Kurds. [2]
The victims were mostly Kurds younger than 14 years old. [3] The cinema hall had a capacity of about 200 people, but about 500 children were watching the film at the time of fire. [4] [5]
The exits to the cinema had been padlocked and all of the cinema staff had left the building before the fire started. Authorities also prevented onlookers from attempting to save the children, claiming that it was too "dangerous". [6] The children of regime officials did not attend the film. Two Syrian soldiers were stationed at the cinema's entrance. [7] The cinema had four doors, none which were able to be opened during the fire. [8] The film stock, which was old and worn out, caught fire and the flames spread to the wooden roof of the cinema hall. [9]
Many of the victims died of suffocation after a cinema door closed into them. [10] Some of the victims decided to jump off a balcony, but did not realize that the balcony was directly above an open well. A wooden beam fell onto and killed a man named Mohammed Said Agha Daqqouri, who saved 12 children from the fire before his death. [11]
The fire was never investigated by the Syrian government. [4]
The fire permanently mentally and physically scarred a number of survivors. [12] According to the head of Amuda, Muhammad Omar Sheikhmous, there was "not a house left in Amouda without a child martyred from it" as a result of the fire. [13]
The rebuilding of the cinema started on 31 August 2024. [14] The project's area is more than 1100 cubic meters and it costed US$ 346,326. [15]
Amouda is Burning is a documentary script about the Amouda Cinema fire by the Kurdish-Syrian writer and lawyer Hasan Draei. [16] [17] [18]
The Kurdish population of Syria is the country's largest ethnic minority, usually estimated at around 10% of the Syrian population and 5% of the Kurdish population.
Amuda is a town in Al Hasakah Governorate in northeastern Syria close to the Syria–Turkey border. As a result of the ongoing civil war, Amuda is currently under the civil control of the AANES and military control of the SDF.
The Democratic Union Party is a Kurdish left-wing political party established on 20 September 2003 in northern Syria. It is a founding member of the National Coordination Body for Democratic Change. It is the leading political party among Syrian Kurds. The PYD was established as a Syrian branch of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in 2003, and both organizations are still closely affiliated through the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK).
The Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (DAANES), also known as Rojava, is a de facto autonomous region in northeastern Syria. It consists of self-governing sub-regions in the areas of Jazira, Euphrates, Raqqa, Tabqa, and Deir Ez-Zor. The region gained its de facto autonomy in 2012 in the context of the ongoing Rojava conflict and the wider Syrian civil war, in which its official military force, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), has taken part.
Al-Qahtaniyah, formerly Qubur al-Bid, is a town in northeastern Al-Hasakah Governorate, northeastern Syria. It is the administrative center of al-Qahtaniyah Subdistrict, which consists of 103 localities. Historically an Assyrian city, at the 2004 census, it had a population of 16,946. The Female Protection Forces of the Land Between Two Rivers trained in this city.
The Kurdish Front is a predominantly Kurdish Syrian rebel faction participating in the Syrian Civil War.
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A number of different symbols have been used to represent the Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (DAANES), commonly known as Rojava. The Autonomous Adminisrtation adopted an official emblem in December 2018. The emblem consists of the words "Autonomous Administration" in Arabic, surrounded by seven red stars representing the regions of northeast Syria, as well as a branch of olives and spike of wheat, two crops grown in the region. Surrounding all of the symbols is the words "Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria" written in Arabic, Kurmanji, Syriac, and Turkish, the languages spoken in the region. The blue and yellow semicircles the whole emblem is put upon represents the Euphrates river and the "permanent spring" of the region. A flag with the Autonomous Administration's emblem on a white field is also used occasionally to represent the Administration itself.
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The Syrian Democratic Council (SDC) is the political wing of the Syrian Democratic Forces in the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES). The SDC's stated mission is working towards the implementation of a "Pluralistic, democratic and decentralized system for all of Syria".
The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) has many military councils for local security and defense, each being accountable to the civil council of the area they operate in.
The Federal Executive Council or simply the Executive Council of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, acts as a joint coordination committee that oversees the implementation of policies developed by the Federal Assembly of the Syrian Democratic Council.
The Kurdish National Alliance in Syria is a Syrian Kurdish coalition formed by five Syrian Kurdish parties in the city of Amuda in the al-Hasakah Governorate of northeastern Syria in 13 February 2016. Four of the five parties in the coalition were originally members of the Kurdish National Council, but were expelled due to their cooperation with the Democratic Union Party (PYD).
Hawar News Agency is a news agency. The site started as an Arabic-only news service. Hawar News is linked to the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) and its armed forces the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
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The Azadî Battalion, also known as the Elite Battalion, is a Kurdish unit affiliated with the Free Syrian Army and reportedly loyal to Mustafa Cumma's Kurdish Freedom Party. Founded in 2012 and led by Azad Shabo, the Azadî Battalion is opposed to the Democratic Union Party (PYD) and fights on the side of Turkey in the Syrian Civil War.
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