Turkey opposes 'IS,' but no arms for Kurds
October 19, 2014
US President Barack Obama called his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday and they pledged to work together to step up the fight against "Islamic State" ("IS") in Syria - especially in the besieged town of Kobani.
The White House said the two presidents had spoken by phone on Sunday, when they addressed "Syria, particularly the situation in Kobani, and steps that could be taken to counter ['IS'] advances."
However, there was little in the way of detail about how the countries might work together.
The Turkish president has ruled out providing military supplies to the Kurdish fighters, who have been defending the town since mid-September.
Earlier on Sunday, Erdogan warned off Washington supplying arms to the main Syrian Kurdish party, the Democratic Union Party (PYD) - which Turkey has labeled a "terrorist organization" - and affiliated fighters from the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG).
"It would be wrong for the United States - with whom we are friends and allies in NATO - to talk openly and to expect us to say 'yes' to such a support for a terrorist organization," Erdogan said in comments reported by the state-run Anadolu news agency.
Turkey has been accused of undue wavering in its response to the "IS" advance on the border with Syria. Ankara has long fought a separatist movement by Kurds on its own side of the border.
A PYD spokesman said it had called for more weapons to be supplied to Kurdish troops.
"We have discussed the need to support the YPG to allow it to withstand ISIS, especially since ISIS has very heavy weapons," said the spokesman, Newaf Khalil, using an alternative acronym for the terrorist organization. "We are working on the question of military supplies."
The US military has said that while it sees some "encouraging" signs, the airstrikes might not prevent Kobani's fall.
Heavy losses for jihadists
Six strikes were carried out on Sunday that targeted "IS" assets around the town of Kobani, a monitoring group said.
The initial strikes took place after midnight local time and hit the town's eastern Kani Araban district, according to British-based monitoring group the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Three further airstrikes later in the morning were said to have hit a security compound held by "IS" in the center of the town. Clashes on the ground were said to be taking place to the west of the facility.
From Saturday into Sunday, "IS" appeared to be targeting the border crossing into Turkey, the town's only remaining link to the outside world. Jihadists were said to be engaged in fighting with the Kurdish People's Protection Units around a vegetable market some 700 meters (about half a mile) east of the crossing area.
rc/jm (AFP, AP)