Turkey to Allow Iraqi Kurdish Fighters to Enter Syria To Defend Kobane

World | October 20, 2014, Monday // 14:59
Bulgaria: Turkey to Allow Iraqi Kurdish Fighters to Enter Syria To Defend Kobane Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu speaks during a press conference in Berlin, Germany, 18 September 2014. Photo EPA/BGNES

Turkey will allow Iraqi Kurdish fighters to cross into Syria to fight Islamic State militants, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Monday.

Cavusoglu’s statement marks a major shift in the position of the Turkish government which has been under pressure from Turkey’s own Kurdish population to let Iraqi Peshmerga fighters join Syrian Kurds battling IS.

Cavusoglu told reporters in Ankara talks on the matter were ongoing. He didn’t give further details.

According to Al Jazeera TV station, the shift came after a phone conversation between US President Barack Obama and his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, during which Obama described the situation in Kobane as ‘desperate’.

Ankara so far has been reluctant to allow Kurdish fighters to cross the border with Syria and join Syrian Kurds in fighting Islamic State in and around the town of Kobane. The town just across the border with Turkey has become a symbol of the international battle against the Jihadist group.

Ankara’s reluctance has been rooted in its concerns that allowing Iraqi Kurds into Syria to fight Islamic State may fuel separatist sentiment among its own Kurds. The Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which the Turkish government considers a terrorist organization, has been fighting for greater autonomy of Kurds in Turkey for several decades and has links with Kurds in Syria.  

Cavusoglu’s spoke just hours after US transport aircraft dropped arms, ammunition and medical supplies provided by Kurdish authorities in Iraq  to Kurdish fighters in Kobane. The airdrops were made despite Turkeys objections to helping Syrian Kurds withstand attacks by Islamic State.

"Turkey has no wish see Kobane fall," Cavusoglu.

It appears, however, that despite its agreement to allow Iraki Kurdish fighters enter Syria from Turkey to defend Kobane, Ankara will still block any PKK fighters from entering Syria, AFP noted in its coverage of the news.

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Tags: turkey, Kobane, Iraqi Kurds, Peshmerga, Cavusoglu, Syria, Iraq, Islamic state

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