PYD Dismisses Erdoğan's Remarks

Saleh Muslim, the co-chair of the Democratic Union Party (PYD) has dismissed the remarks of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who said that the Free Syrian Army (FSA) has decided to send 1,300 fighters to Kobani.

Muslim said on Friday that no agreement has yet been reached on the passage of FSA fighters into the besieged border town of Kobani."We already established connection with the FSA but no such agreement has been reached yet as Mr. Erdogan has mentioned," he told Reuters via phone from Brussels.

Speaking at a press meeting during his visit to Estonia, Erdoğan said he had told US President Barack Obama that the FSA is Turkey's first choice for the passage of fighters into Kobani via Turkey. According to Erdoğan, sending Kurdish peshmerga forces to Kobani was the second option.

In a major policy shift for Turkey, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu on Monday announced that Turkey will be helping the peshmerga to cross into Kobani from Turkish territory. The Financial Times newspaper reported the story on Monday as “Turkey's U-turn.” But Erdoğan told the press that it was his idea to assist the peshmerga to cross into Kobani to fight against ISIL, refuting claims that the reason for the policy change is the US President's call to Erdoğan on Saturday.

Erdoğan said there will be 150 peshmerga forces entering Kobani through Turkey.

Turkey had previously stated that it would not support any kind of weapons transfers to the Kurdish fighters, who are allied with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), in Kobani. PYD, the Syrian branch of the PKK, has been fighting against ISIL militants in the Syrian town of Kobani near the Turkish border. The PKK is classified as a terrorist organization by the US, Turkey and the European Union.

“Turkey's allowing the peshmerga crossing into Kobani was seen as a positive thing. Turkey's situation is difficult for sure. And it's understandable why the government is reluctant to take the risk of re-arming certain Kurdish groups. But if Kobani falls, it's bad for everyone. If Kobani falls, it would be one more problem for Turkey, not less,” a European diplomat told Today's Zaman on Friday.

Meanwhile, the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) denied claims that the route that the peshmerga fighters will follow from Turkey into Kobani has been determined.

The battle for the Syrian town of Kobani will turn into a war of attrition unless Kurds defending it from an ISIL onslaught get arms that can repel tanks and armoured vehicles, a Syrian Kurdish leader told a pan-Arab newspaper.

ISIL insurgents encircled the town near the Turkish border more than a month ago and are using weapons including tanks and armoured vehicles seized in Iraq to attack Kurds equipped mainly with light arms.

"[It's] attrition for both sides unless something in the situation changes," Saleh Moslem, head of PYD, told Asharq al-Awsat newspaper in remarks published on Friday.

He said the Kurds had recently received information that ISIL wanted to fire chemical weapons into Kobani using mortars. He said the militant group had surrounded the town, whose Arabic name is Ayn al-Arab, with around 40 tanks.

"If we were to receive qualitative [stronger] weapons, we would be able to hit the tanks and armoured vehicles that they use -- we may be able to bring a qualitative change in the battle," he said.

(Cihan/Today's Zaman)