Posted on 10/20/2014 7:57:22 AM PDT by GonzoII
Turkey’s top diplomat has announced that his country is helping Iraqi Kurdish fighters cross into Syria to “give support” to fellow Kurds defending the border town of Kobani from Islamic State militants.
The remarks by Turkey’s foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, at a press conference in Ankara, followed the announcement by the US military that it had for the first time airdropped weapons, ammunition and medical supplies provided by Kurdish authorities in Iraq to the Kurdish forces in Kobani.
Sunday’s airdrops followed weeks of US and coalition air strikes in and near Kobani, along the Syrian-Turkish border. There was no immediate confirmation by Kurdish officials of the airdrop or what kind of weapons it included.
It was thought the airdrops would almost certainly anger the Turkish government, which has said it would oppose any US arms transfers to the Kurdish rebels in Syria.
Ankara views the main Kurdish group in Syria as an extension of the Turkish Kurd group known as the PKK, which has waged a 30-year insurgency in Turkey and is designated a terror group by the US and by Nato.
But the US military’s announcement of the airdrops, coupled with the Turkish foreign minister’s statements, is an unexpected development.
It suggests Turkey may be softening its stance on the issue of helping the Syrian Kurds. But although a significant departure from previous positions, it is not a complete change of policy – since allowing Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga forces to cross into Syria is different from allowing Turkish PKK forces into Kobani.
(Excerpt) Read more at breakingnews.ie ...
Yes good news. Looks like some adults are now running the show and letting Obama just go out and play golf.
I’ll wait for Kurdish confirmation that they received anything of value before I start celebrating...
Me too! I wonder why the turks are announcing this. Maybe something is up in Constantinople!
This report comes AFTER an OpEd in the WSJ this morning by a Turkish government foreign ministry official, in which he laid out why it was wrong - from the Turkish government’s point of view - to let the Kurds in Turkey join the fighting across the border in Syria (it will advantage Kurdish groups in Turkey that are fighting the Turkish government over Kurdish autonomy/independence.
It is also after stinging rebukes to that position in the comments on that oped piece.
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