After many delays, first group of Iraqi peshmerga enter Kobane
Reporting from the Turkish side of the Syria-Turkey border, FRANCE 24’s Alexander Turnbull said the first group of an estimated 150 Iraqi peshmerga fighters are believed to have crossed the frontier and met with Syrian Kurdish fighters defending Kobane.
“One of the rare journalists in the city, we talked to him earlier and he confirmed they had entered Kobane to in fact meet with the leaders of the [Syrian] Kurdish fighters to discuss the best way to get the 150 peshmerga fighters across the border,” said Turnbull. “It seems like the peshmerga units could be divided into smaller groups capable of moving faster, more discreetly and they would then be in charge of moving the crates of weapons and ammo, which would mean the process would likely be slower, but a lot safer.”
The movement of the Iraqi peshmerga fighters from Turkey into Syria has been hampered by frequent delays amid growing frustration among Turkey’s Kurds who have greeted the convoy of Iraqi peshmerga en route to Syria.
Iraqi peshmerga commanders have complained that the Turkish authorities have refused to let them cross the border with their weapons, according to Kurdish news reports.
A peshmerga medic traveling with the convoy told Rudaw, a Kurdish news organization based in the northern Iraqi city of Erbil that the fighters were being held up at a Turkish army camp.
“There are no facilities in the place we are staying,” Issettin Temo, the medic, told Rudaw. “We do not have a bar of soap nor a washbasin to wash our hands. We feel like prisoners. We have no connection with the outside world. However we can do nothing but wait for our guns to reach us. Our journey is being delayed because of this.”
Turkey’s intelligence agency, the MIT, has been ordered to coordinate the crossing of Iraqi peshmerga into Syria, according to the Turkish Hurriyet daily and there have been widespread reports of Turkish military obstructions along the way.
Turkey accused of trying to dilute YPG power
The delays come amid growing international discontent over Turkey’s perceived failure to do more in the fight against the Islamic State (IS) militant group.
Ankara views Syrian Kurdish fighters defending Kobane as linked to the PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party), a Marxist group that has waged a bloody offensive against Turkey over the past three decades. The recent fighting in Kobane has strained a tenuous peace process between the Turkish government and the PKK, which is considered a terrorist organization by Turkey, the US and the EU.
As Syrian Kurdish fighters from the PKK-linked YPG (People’s Protection Unit) have waged a desperate battle to defend Kobane against the IS group, Ankara has blocked Turkish Kurdish fighters from crossing the border to join the fighting in the symbolically important Syrian city.
The battle for Kobane has turned into a major test of the US-led coalition against the IS group amid US air support and air drops of military and humanitarian supplies for the Kurdish fighters on the ground.
Under intense international pressure, Ankara announced last week that it would allow Iraqi Kurdish forces to transit Turkey on their way to the besieged town to help the Syrian Kurds.
Turkish President Reccep Tayyip Erdogan has forged close ties with the Iraqi Kurdish authorities under regional President Massoud Barzani in northern Iraq.
Ankara has also allowed between 50 and 200 fighters of the primarily Sunni Muslim Free Syrian Army (FSA) into Kobane, according to media reports, in what is widely viewed as an attempt by Turkey to ensure that the balance of power in the Syrian Kurdish areas does not turn in favour of the PKK and its allies in the region.
Kurdish fighters in Syria have repeatedly maintained that they do not need more fighters, but heavy weapons to take on IS fighters. Kurdish activists across the region suspect Ankara of trying to dilute the YPG influence in Kobane by sending peshmerga linked to Barzani, a close ally of Turkey, as well as FSA fighters.
A 'historic' showing of Kurdish unity
Reporting from the Turkish side of the Syria-Turkey border, Turnbull said crowds of Turkish and Syrian Kurds, including refugees from Kobane, have been greeting convoys of Iraqi peshmerga fighters as they made their way across southeastern Turkey over the past two days.
“For them, it’s a historic moment to see all the Kurdish fighters unite against a common enemy from three different countries – Turkey, Iraq and Syria. It’s the first time, they say, after years of political strife, bloody conflicts and clashes between different factions within the Kurdish movement,” explained Turnbull. “The Turkish authorities are not too happy to see all these factions getting together and that probably explains why after authorizing the convoy to ride along its border, Turkey has been seen to do everything it could to slow it down.”
Turkish officials have rejected claims that it was not doing enough to end the jihadist assault in neighbouring Syria.
In an interview with the BBC, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Turkey would only take part once the US-led coalition against the IS group had an "integrated strategy" that included action against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces.
Many Turkish Kurds however accuse Erdogan of aiding the IS group in Syria, a charge Ankara has consistently denied.
“People here are very critical of the Turkish authorities, saying that they’ve been helping out the Islamic State organization rather than making sure the convoy actually made its way to the border,” said Turnbull, referring to uncorroborated footage aired on Kurdish TV stations that appears to show collaboration between IS fighters and Turkish soldiers. “We were unable to confirm this,” said Turnbull, referring to the footage. “But the feeling here is that Turkish authorities are closer to the IS organization than they are to Kurdish fighters here in Turkey and on the Syrian side of the border.”
France24
