Trump Restaurant for Falafel: a Syrian Kurd names restaurant in Kobane after US President-elect

ARA News ^ | January 4, 2017 | Enwer Omar

[Texas Fossil]

ARA News

Kobane – A Syrian Kurd opened a falafel restaurant in the city of Kobane, and decided to name it after the US President-elect Donald Trump.

Walid Shekhi, 40, opened his “Trump Restaurant” last week in central Kobane, a city under reconstruction since the expulsion of ISIS militants nearly two years ago.

Shekhi, a father of six, told ARA News that he named his restaurant after Tump for the US-led coalition’s key role in liberating his hometown from ISIS.

“And I believe that the United States under Donald Trump will provide more support to the Kurds to fight and eventually eliminate Daesh terrorists,” he said, using another acronym for ISIS.

“He is the leader of the United States, the greatest country in the world, and we Kurds love the United States, so we love Donald Trump. That’s why I named my restaurant after him,” Shekhi told ARA News.

Rula Hassan, a social scientist from Kobane, said: “It may seem ridiculous to associate Mr Trump with falafel and Kobane. But I believe Mr Shekhi is trying to show his support to President Trump with the hope of having him as a new ally to the Kurds.”

Kobane was liberated by Kurdish fighters of the People’s Protection Units (YPG) from Islamic State’s (ISIS) militants in January 2015.

Supported by the US-led coalition’s air cover, the YPG and the Peshmerga liberated the city of Kobane and large parts of its countryside after more than four months of military operations against ISIS extremists. Although the campaign caused a huge destruction to the city, the displaced people of Kobane returned and started reconstructing their hometown.

Reporting by: Enwer Omar | Source: ARA News

[Texas Fossil]

Yesterday, I posted a short comment derived from a friend on Twitter in Syria about this.

This is from a ME news source and has more detail about the reason it was named after Trump.

There is a good picture of the owner at the link. I had some issues when I tried to post the pic.

Life is tough for those who are threatened by ISIS in Syria. Also by Turkey, like the Kurds are.

I cannot help but admire their determination to survive and rebuild their lives. Kurds are an ancient people with no real nation to call their own.

[lee martell]

I wish them luck. Their society will need to be rebuilt all over again. The trick is knowing when the major quantity of bombing has happened before spending on construction and repair. They have waited over 15 years for the noises of war to settle back down. Many youth in Iraq no longer expect peace within their own lifetimes.

[Texas Fossil]

Yes. That is very unfortunate. The deep hatred associated with this butchery must end. The US has bleed enough trying to end this.

There must be a better way to approach it. When Obozo is gone, I expect an immediate improvement. Both in the US and in the World. He was consistently on the wrong side of every conflict and on the wrong side of human history.

[Eleutheria5]

Will he be hearing from Donald’s lawyers about the brand name infringement;-?

[Texas Fossil]

That has been brought up, I personally doubt it. He certainly does not threaten anything Trump is involved in.

Look at the structure. I think that if Trump sees this it will make him feel good about how he is viewed in a war torn country.

His advisors? Who knows.

[Blue Jays]

Falafel sandwiches are superb for healthy nutrition and excellent taste.
President Trump will almost certainly be the best POTUS of the past one hundred years.
It makes perfectly good sense for him to name his establishment this way.

[Texas Fossil]

I have been told that Israel and the Kurds have a pretty good relationship. There is some common history involved, way back.

Culturally, not the same. But Kurds have witnessed ME cruelty.

[Eleutheria5]

It’s what I like about the Kurds. They help themselves and fix problems, instead of fixing blame.

[Texas Fossil]

Thanks for that explanation of the food.

I was not aware of it’s history until I did a search for details after you explained it.

Spices make a big difference in how food is received. They have had problems with very limited diet, due to the war damage.

Many Kurds have been involved in farming. The war threatened their very existence. Both threat of being killed and near starvation. I’m sure we did try to help them during the final days in the battle for Kobane.

[Texas Fossil]

And they are fierce tough soldiers. Nobody disputes that. Event their women will fight.

You cannot help but admire that.

[Blue Jays]

Darn it...messed-up on sizing the photo. Sorry! :-(

[Texas Fossil]

You’ve been there. smile.

I appreciate that perspective you brought out.

[miniTAX]

Some newly discovered pests, err, species, have been given names after Obama, something like Pyrrhocorus Obamansis.
Now imagine the uproar if they had Trump in the name.