Tension Rises High As US-Turkey Exchange Accusations On Kobani

Turkey and US officials have continued to exchange accusations against each other on the ways and means of fighting the threat of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in the Syrian town of Kobani, straining ties further between the "strategic allies."

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Thursday criticized the US air-dropping weapons and medical supplies to the Kurdish forces fighting against ISIL in Kobani, saying the US act came despite Turkey's opposition.

The Kurdish forces fighting against ISIL in Kobani, the Democratic Union Party (PYD), is affiliated with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). The PKK is classified as a terrorist organization by the US, Turkey and the European Union. But the US says that under US law, the PYD is legally a different group from the PKK and is not considered a terrorist organization.

During his visit to Latvia on Thursday, Erdoğan said he warned US President Barack Obama of the possibility that the weapons aid may potentially end up in the hands of terrorist organizations.

Obama called Erdoğan on Saturday to “notify” him about the US intention to air-drop aid to the PYD. On Sunday the US military dropped the aid to the PYD in Kobani via the territory of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).

Erdoğan said Turkey is not pleased to see the US aid ending up with the PYD as well as ISIL militants. “The US has done this, despite Turkey,” said Erdoğan.

The president also said that during his phone conversation with Obama on Saturday he underscored that the PYD and the PKK are the same. “I told him that the PYD is a terrorist organization as well. Therefore, any aid to the PYD will go to a terrorist organization. There are people among the PYD fighting [in Kobani] from the PKK leadership. I expressed this to him,” stressed Erdoğan.

Erdoğan on Wednesday called the US aid to the Kurdish forces “wrong” because some of the supplies had ended up in the hands of terrorists. US Department of State deputy spokesperson Marie Harf rejected this criticism.

When asked whether she agrees with Erdoğan calling the aid to Kurdish forces “wrong,” Harf said, “Not at all,” during the daily press conference on Wednesday.

“What was done here was wrong,” said Erdoğan during a press conference on Wednesday, adding: “Why? Because some of the weapons they dropped from the C-130s were seized by ISIL.”

The US military over the weekend dropped weapons, ammunition and medical supplies to the Democratic Union Party (PYD) in Kobani, near the Turkish border.

“In his call with President Erdoğan on Saturday, President [Barack] Obama made very clear why we consider it urgent and essential to resupply the fighters in Kobani who are in a desperate situation. They are responding to repeated ISIL attacks on their city,” Harf said.

Harf: 'We'll let Turkey speak for itself'

“And we'll let the Turkish government speak for itself, but allowing ISIL to seize more territory along the border with Turkey could endanger more Syrian communities and threaten our shared interest with Turkey in defeating ISIL and strengthening the moderate opposition,” she added.

When asked whether the US will continue air-dropping aid to the PYD, Harf said the US is not taking any option off the table, adding: “We may, we may not. We just don't know if there'll be a need at this point.”

US Department of Defense officials confirmed on Wednesday that some of the US aid may have gone astray.

Some video stills on Monday circulated showing ISIL militants getting their hands on the US supplies.

The Pentagon said one bundle of supplies was not recovered and may have been seized by ISIL. “It is therefore possible that the video yesterday [Monday] could be that missing bundle,” said the Pentagon on Tuesday. The Pentagon also said allegations that the recovered air-dropped weapons were American-made is not true, adding that the US military did not drop any American-made weapons.

Erdoğan on Thursday also said there are two important groups in Kobani that need to be supported, one of them being the Free Syrian Army (FSA) and the other the peshmerga. He stressed that Turkey will allow peshmerga fighters to cross into Kobani in a controlled manner via Turkey. Erdoğan said the PYD did not allow peshmerga at first but later changed its position, saying that 200 peshmerga will go to Kobani.

Once again Erdoğan reiterated that he could not understand why Kobani has a strategic importance for the US, adding that Kobani could be a strategic point for Turkey.

“We are the ones who need to be sensitive about it. Many civilians have come to my country,” said Erdoğan, pointing out that more than 200,000 people came to Turkey over the last three weeks.

“Where has the whole world been so far, when more than 300,000 people in Syria were killed? If you are so sensitive about Kobani, why don't you have the same sensitivity for the rest of Syria? One-third of Iraq is under the occupation of the ISIL terrorist organization. What are they doing there [in Iraq]?” asked Erdoğan.

In a major policy shift, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said on Monday that Turkey will assist peshmerga fighters to cross into Kobani. The Financial Times newspaper has called the Turkish government's move a “U-turn.” But President Erdoğan told the press on Wednesday that assisting peshmerga fighters to enter Kobani was his idea and that he had expressed this to Obama during their last phone conversations on Saturday.

Speaking to Deutsche Welle's Turkish service, former US Ambassador to Turkey James Jeffrey said on Wednesday that the turning point in Turkey's change of policy came after Obama's call to Erdoğan and US Secretary of State John Kerry's call to his counterpart on Friday.

(Cihan/Today's Zaman)