Ambivalent Turkey watches as Syrian town in danger of falling to extremists
As U. S. generals and Secretary of State John Kerry warned that a strategic Syrian border town could fall to Islamic State militants, the Turkish military deployed its tanks on its side of the frontier but only watched the slaughter.
Turkey’s inaction despite its supposed participation in a coalition forged to crush the extremist group is frustrating Washington and its NATO allies, and reviving a rebellion by Turkish Kurds.
Amid fears the Kurdish town of Kobani could fall any day, U. S. and NATO officials are travelling to Turkey on Thursday to press negotiations for more robust Turkish involvement in the coalition.
But Turkey is taking a hard line, insisting that it will only consider involvement in military action as part of a broader strategy for ending the rule of Syrian President Bashar Assad. The U. S. and its allies want to keep the focus on Islamic State, which they say poses a more global threat.
Emphasizing the U. S. position, Kerry said Wednesday that although the Obama administration is “deeply concerned about the people of Kobani,” preventing the town’s fall to Islamic State militants was not a strategic objective for the U. S.
“As horrific as it is to watch in real time what’s happening in Kobani, it’s also important to remember, you have to step back and understand the strategic objective,” Kerry told a news conference in Washington.
Turkey is ambivalent about the fight across its border, because of its distrust of the Kurdish fighters protecting Kobani, also known as Ayn Arab. It views them as an extension of the Kurdish PKK, the rebel group that has waged a long and bloody insurgency against Ankara.
Warplanes believed to be from the U. S.- led coalition bombed Islamic State positions near Kobani on Wednesday. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Wednesday’s strikes targeted Islamic State fighters east of Kobani.
The U. S. Central Command said coalition forces had launched airstrikes on six locations around Kobani since Tuesday.
Since Monday night, the strikes have killed 45 Islamic State fighters in and around Kobani , said the Britain- based Observatory.