MIDDLE EAST: Turkish president says deal reached on sending 200 Kurdish peshmerga fighters from Iraq through Turkey to help defend Kobani against Islamic State militants

Record ID: 217851

  • Title: MIDDLE EAST: Turkish president says deal reached on sending 200 Kurdish peshmerga fighters from Iraq through Turkey to help defend Kobani against Islamic State militants
  • Date: 23rd October 2014
  • Summary: KOBANI, SYRIA (FILMED FROM MURSITPINAR, TURKEY) (OCTOBER 23, 2014) (REUTERS) BUILDINGS/ SMOKE RISING FROM THE AREA MURSITPINAR, TURKEY (OCTOBER 23, 2014) (REUTERS) ARMOURED VEHICLES BEING DRIVEN ALONG BORDER TANKS STATIONED NEAR TURKISH OUTPOST KOBANI, SYRIA (FILMED FROM MURSITPINAR, TURKEY) (OCTOBER 23, 2014) (REUTERS) SMOKE RISING FROM THE TOWN
  • Embargoed: 7th November 2014 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Turkey, Syrian Arab Republic
  • City:
  • Country: Turkey Syrian Arab Republic
  • Topics: War / Fighting,International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA5CNKUOWV33RFGFKVJGG7L53OI
  • Story Text: Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday (October 23) agreement had been reached on sending 200 Kurdish peshmerga fighters from Iraq through Turkey to help defend the Syrian border town of Kobani against Islamic State militants.
    He was speaking after Iraqi Kurdish lawmakers on Wednesday (October 22) approved sending the fighters, marking the semi-autonomous region's first military foray into Syria's war.

    "I have learned that they finally reached agreement on a figure of 200 (fighters)," Erdogan told a news conference in the Latvian capital Riga.
    Islamic State, keen to consolidate territorial gains in northern Syria, has pressed an offensive on Kobani even as U.S.-led forces continue bombing the militants' positions.
    The United States has air-dropped weapons and medical supplies to Kurds in Kobani provided by Iraq's Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).
    Erdogan on Thursday renewed criticism of the move, describing the main Kurdish force defending the town as a "terrorist" group.

    "During our phone conversation (with U.S. President Barack Obama) I said that PYD (Democratic Union Party) is equal to PKK. I told him PYD is also a terrorist organisation and any aid that you would deliver to PYD would be delivered to a terrorist organisation. Men from PKK leadership are fighting there together with PYD," he said.
    Although Turkey's relations with the KRG are close, officials view those defending Kobani with suspicion because of their links with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), outlawed in Turkey as a terrorist group after fighting a three-decades long insurgency for Kurdish autonomy in southeast Turkey.
    The government wants a definitive peace with the PKK, but that process has faltered in recent months, particularly as Turkey's failure to intervene militarily in Kobani has provoked fury among many of the country's 15 million Kurds.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register