Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmed Davutoglu June 9, 2014 (Photo: Reuters)
Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has stated that Turkey will not send ground troops to battle in Kobane, the Syrian-Turkey border town also known Ain- al-Arab, unless the coalitions' countries also send troops.
In an interview with BBC Chief International Correspondent Lyse Doucet, Davutoglu said on Tuesday that since each member of the coalition has refused to send in their own troops, the coalition must send the Iraqi "Peshmerja" forces and Free Syrian Army to take the city back. The minister added that the US must provide these forces with proper training and equipment that will allow them not only to fight IS but also to take on Bashar Al-Assad or the Turkish Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK) if necessary. He also added that Turkey will not prevent other coalition members from sending troops to Kobane.
The PM denied claims that Turkey allows pro-IS fighters to enter to Syria, explaining that "Turkey never allowed any foreign fighters to cross its borders to Syria, or to cooperate with any of these groups" he added that IS is a threat to Turkey and the country already declared it a "terrorist" group in October 2013.
"Integrated strategy" is needed in the fight in Kobane, and Turkey is going to help any coalition forces to use its air bases or any other means in the fight,” Davutoglu told BBC, on condition that all parties have a common understanding of a new "democratic" Syria and to fight all crimes against humanity committed by IS or the Syrian Regime, he added.
A week after the Turkish Parliament announced that the government will join the US-Led coalition's campaign, the Turkey President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, called for ground troops to join the fight.
"The terror will not be over, unless we cooperate for a ground operation. Months have passed, but no results have been achieved," AFP quoted Erdogan as saying in a televised speech.
IS militants launched assaults in Kobane and began to advance on the town on 16 September; Kurdish fighters responded in what became a battle to take back the town that is ongoing, AFP reported.
In the battle for Kobane, jihadists lost 481 fighters, the Kurds 313, and around 200,000 refugees fled into neighbouring Turkey according to the British-based NGO, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which relies on a network of sources inside Syria for its information, AFP reported.
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