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Turkey Helps Peshmerga Cross Into Kobani, US Drops Arms To PYD

21.10.2014 09:51

DENİZ ARSLAN In a major policy shift, Turkey has announced that it is assisting peshmerga forces to cross into Kobani to fight against the radical Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) upon the request of US officials; meanwhile, the US air-dropped small arms and medical aid to the Kurdish fighters in Kobani over the weekend.Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said on Monday that Turkey is helping the Iraqi Kurdish forces to cross into the Syrian border town of Kobani to fight against ISIL. “We never wanted Kobani to fall,” said Çavuşoğlu during a joint press conference with visiting Tunisian Foreign Minister Mongi Hamdi in Ankara.Çavuşoğlu did not elaborate further on how Turkey is facilitating Kurdish forces to cross into Syria.His statement came after the US military announced that it had air-dropped arms to Syrian Kurds battling ISIL near Kobani, the first such delivery after more than a month of fighting. US military officials announced on Sunday that they dropped weapons, amm

DENİZ ARSLAN
In a major policy shift, Turkey has announced that it is assisting peshmerga forces to cross into Kobani to fight against the radical Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) upon the request of US officials; meanwhile, the US air-dropped small arms and medical aid to the Kurdish fighters in Kobani over the weekend.
Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said on Monday that Turkey is helping the Iraqi Kurdish forces to cross into the Syrian border town of Kobani to fight against ISIL. “We never wanted Kobani to fall,” said Çavuşoğlu during a joint press conference with visiting Tunisian Foreign Minister Mongi Hamdi in Ankara.
Çavuşoğlu did not elaborate further on how Turkey is facilitating Kurdish forces to cross into Syria.
His statement came after the US military announced that it had air-dropped arms to Syrian Kurds battling ISIL near Kobani, the first such delivery after more than a month of fighting. US military officials announced on Sunday that they dropped weapons, ammunitions and medical supplies to the Democratic Union Party (PYD), the Syrian branch of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). The PKK is classified as a terrorist organization by the US, Turkey and the European Union.
The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) on Monday welcomed the US air-drop over the weekend. “As part of the Kurdistan Region's continuous efforts to support western Kurdistan in general and Kobane in particular, weapons and military aid were delivered to Kobane today from the Kurdistan Region of Iraq by American cargo jets. The Kurdistan Region Presidency expresses its gratitude to the United States government for its air support for Kurdistan against the terrorists of ISIS,” said the KRG on its website.
According to the American press, a senior US military official said on Sunday that Kurds fighting in Kobani needed more ammunition and weapons to confront ISIL. “We do assess they are low on munitions and supplies,” the official said.
US Secretary of State John Kerry on Monday signaled that reluctant Turkey has been convinced by the US. Kerry said on Monday that dropping weapons was a temporary measure and the US had asked Turkey to allow passage for the Iraqi Kurdish fighters. “It would be irresponsible of us, as well as morally very difficult, to turn your back on a community fighting ISIL as hard as it is at this particular moment,” said Kerry to journalists in Jakarta.
Kerry said the US administration understands Turkey's concerns of weapons aid to the Kurds in the region who are linked to the PKK, but he said resupplying Kobani was absolutely necessary in a “crisis moment.”
“Let me say very respectfully to our allies the Turks that we understand fully the fundamentals of their opposition and ours to any kind of terrorist group, and particularly, obviously, the challenges they face with respect to the PKK,” he said, adding: “But we have undertaken a coalition effort to degrade and destroy ISIL, and ISIL is presenting itself in major numbers in this place called Kobani,” he added. Kerry said the ISIL militants had chosen to “make this a ground battle, attacking a small group of people there who -- while they are an offshoot group of the folks that our friends the Turks oppose -- they are valiantly fighting ISIL and we cannot take our eye off the prize here.”
US President Barack Obama spoke on the phone with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan after Erdoğan's return from an official visit to Afghanistan on Saturday. The White House said in a statement on Sunday that Obama called Erdoğan to discuss Syria, particularly the situation in Kobani and “steps that could be taken to counter ISIL's advances.”
“The President expressed appreciation for Turkey hosting over a million refugees, including thousands from Kobani. The two leaders pledged to continue to work closely together to strengthen cooperation against ISIL. They also discussed the need for continuing close cooperation on efforts to consolidate peace and stability in Afghanistan,” said the White House. An unnamed US official told American press that Obama notified Erdoğan about his administration's plans to make air drops to PYD during the call, but did not describe Erdoğan's reaction, only saying that US understands that Turkey opposes any aid to Kurdish forces, which Turkey sees as an enemy.

A belated decision

Main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) Adana deputy and veteran Turkish diplomat Faruk Loğoğlu has said the government's decision to allow peshmerga forces to cross into Kobani to help Kurdish fighters is a “belated one.”
“The [Turkish] government should have made that decision at a much earlier point in time. An earlier move could have saved lives in Kobani, halt ISIL's advances, shown our solidarity with the Kurds and spared Turkey from the bloody Kobani demonstrations,” Loğoğlu told Today's Zaman on Monday.
Kurds in Turkey have been protesting the Turkish government's reluctance to help Kurdish forces in Kobani against ISIL.
Loğoğlu supported the US dropping weapons, medicine and food to the Kobani Kurds as an “appropriate act, consistent with both the aims of the anti-ISIL coalition and tenets of humanitarian intervention.” “Unfortunately, that action has come a bit too late and under pressure from the US. But better late than never. Of course, the move also underlines the rift between Ankara and Washington over the identity of the PYD and means that at the end of the day, Washington simply ignores what the Turkish government thinks about the issue,” said Loğoğlu.
He said the Turkish government's move is probably designed to prevent further the country from becoming further marginalized in the fight against ISIL, to appease the Kurds in and outside Turkey and to deflect greater American pressure for deeper involvement in fighting ISIL.
KRG Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani said they are in constant contact with Turkey and the US over providing help to Kobani, according to a report by the Kurdish Rudaw news agency on Monday. Barzani also said 10,000 people from Kobani have come to the KRG seeking refuge, and that the KRG supports Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi in seeking a solution to the regional problems.

PKK emboldens its position

Kawa Hassan, a Kurdish expert with Carnegie Middle East Center and Hivos, a Dutch development organization, said the PYD and the PKK are emboldened by the enormous support they have received from Kurds all over the world for standing up to ISIL in Kobani despite being outnumbered and ill-equipped, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on Monday.
“There is a growing sense among many Kurds that the PKK is the only force that can confront ISIS,” said Hassan to WSJ.
Up until today, Turkey refused the idea of opening a corridor for fighters and weapons transfers to help Kobani against ISIL. Erdoğan said over the weekend that it is “impossible” for Turkey to support the idea of arming the PYD.
Çavuşoğlu on Monday did not mention the US dropping small arms to PYD forces over the weekend.
ISIL's siege of Kobani has been halted by recent military air strikes by the US-led coalition forces. Unnamed US officials in the Western press have criticized Turkey for not acting to help the Kurds in Kobani. The Turkish military has sent 10,000 troops to the border and a number of tanks have been deployed over the Turkey-Syria border, in visible distance to Kobani.
The US Central Command made a statement on Sunday saying that the vast majority of the airdropped supplies reached the intended Kurdish fighters. An official from the Central Command said that three C-130 planes dropped 27 pieces which consists of small arms, ammunition and medical supplies.
Unnamed US official from the administration told reporters that there might be more US resupply missions to the Kurdish fighters in Kobani in the coming days. Another official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said further air drops by the US requires Turkey's cooperation and talks on resupply needs and means will continue.
The state-run Anadolu news agency posted on Twitter that the discussions about the peshmerga crossings and the aid that will go to Kobani is continuing, according to the Prime Ministry sources talking to Anadolu.
The US has been working on building a strong coalition against ISIL. Turkey has been reluctant to provide contribution to this coalition and insists on removing the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria from power as a priority. Turkey also pushes for the establishment of a safe zone and a no-fly zone inside Syria to curb the refugee influx into Turkey. (Cihan/Today’s Zaman)



 
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