In a significant shift, Turkey’s top diplomat announced on Monday 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 airstrikes 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.
Cavusoglu did not provide details and it was not immediately clear where and how Turkey was allowing Kurdish fighters into Syria, after blocking them so long, or whether this had already happened or was still to take place.
“Iraq’s Kurdish Regional Government announced that they are in cooperation with Turkey and the US,” Cavusoglu said.
“Actually, we are helping peshmerga forces to enter into Kobani to give support,” he added, speaking at a joint news conference with visiting Tunisian Foreign Minister Mongi Hamdi.
In Iraq, meanwhile, the local Kurdish government in the country’s north confirmed the weapons deliveries and expressed gratitude to Washington.
“Weapons and military aid were delivered to Kobani today from the Kurdistan Region of Iraq by American cargo jets,” a statement issued Monday said.
Idriss Naasan, a senior Kurdish official in the Turkish town of Mursitpinar, confirmed that the Kurdish fighters received the air drop.
President Barack Obama called Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday to discuss the situation in Syria and notify him of the plan to make airdrops on Sunday, one US administration official told reporters.
He would not describe Erdogan’s reaction but said US officials are clear about Turkey’s opposition to any moves that help Kurdish forces, whom Turkey views as an enemy.
In a statement Sunday night, the US Central Command said US C-130 cargo planes made multiple drops of arms and supplies provided by Kurdish authorities in Iraq. It said they were intended to enable continued resistance to Islamic State group’s efforts to take full control of Kobani.
Turkey has not allowed the US and its allies to use its airspace or air bases to strike inside Syria.
The C-130s, which would have taken off from the largely autonomous Kurdish regions of northern Iraq, would have had to fly for some time over Syria.
President Bashar Assad’s forces have made no attempt to challenge coalition jets as they bombed Islamic State group targets in northern and eastern Syria for the past weeks.
US officials say they informed Damascus before launching the first US airstrike on IS targets in Syria on Sept. 23.
State Department deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf would not comment last week on whether they were ongoing discussions with Syria over the airstrikes.
