Syrian Kurds: 'We will fight Daesh' - Time for Turkey to shit or get off the pot

[Baclava]

Violence in Ain al-Arab has prompted many Kurdish Syrians to flee to Turkey, but others are returning to battle ISIL.

Mursitpinar, Turkey - Dangling a thick plastic bag that carries many 250ml water bottles, eight-year-old Ali, a Syrian refugee who is now on the Turkish border, looks around to offer water to worried-looking men.



"Take it," he insists, as hundreds of Kurdish men, women and children - some sitting on the ground and others standing - watch a battle unfold mere kilometres away between the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and Kurdish fighters in Ain al-Arab, called Kobane by the Kurds.

Ali's father and older cousins are among the Kurdish group across the border. "They are not trained and have never picked up a gun, but they are helping the fighters in whatever way they can," said Ali's 34-year-old mother, who crossed to the Turkish side of the border for her own protection.

As ISIL fighters rampaged towards the town of Ain al-Arab after taking more than 100 surrounding small villages in the past week, People's Protection Units (YPG) fighters have resisted them. The YPG is a Kurdish rebel group operating on Syrian territory; it is primarily the only Kurdish group fighting ISIL, although some sources say Syrian rebels who fought against Assad are aiding them.

Echoes of gunfire frequently ring through the sky, while Kurds in the Turkish district of Suruc cheer on their brethren. "Kobane! Kobane!" they cry as the Kurds fire on ISIL. Passing pairs of binoculars around, they all take turns to spot black-clad ISIL fighters on one side and Kurds on the other - although in some areas, the battle is so close they do not need binoculars.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2014/09/will-fight-daesh-2014928101835679118.html

[louis-t]

1. These are the people we should be arming and training.

They have the motive to fight back. They have watched their family and neighbors being slaughtered. They know the territory. They are a lot less likely to be corrupted by deal making from outside groups.

[TwilightGardener]

2. Unfortunately we don't have a ground presence in Syria to work with Syrian Kurds

the way we are doing in Iraq with Iraqi Kurds.

[Baclava]

3. So we send them to Saudi to "train" for a year? Fuck that - stick a pin in Turkey's ass to get movin

they have tanks at the border and are just watching it all happen


Turkish Tanks Take Up Position On The Syrian Border

SANLIURFA, TURKEY - Turkish tanks are shown lined up in a closed area behind the border with Syria in Suruc September 28, 2014 south of Sanliurfa, Turkey. Islamic State (IS, also called ISIS and ISIL) fighters are reportedly advancing with heavy weaponry on the strategic Kurdish border town of Kobani (also called Ayn Al-Arab), which they have surrounded on three sides



http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/29/turkish-syria-isis_n_5899334.html

[louis-t]

5. I agree. If we go in stronger and

puts our troops in, they will back off even more. Sorry, we're sick of fighting your battles for you.

[samsingh]

4. i agree - we should be protecting and helping the Kurds

[Baclava]

6. Turkey is walking a tightrope with ISIS, the issue IS the Kurds

Under pressure to take more active stance in coalition, Ankara is mindful of potential backlash from border extremists

Turkey is set to vote Thursday over expanding its role in the U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, a decision that could have long-lasting consequences for a country highly susceptible to an ISIL backlash and fearful of inadvertently strengthening other regional enemies.

Ankara has long been accused of turning a blind eye toward ISIL, but under pressure from NATO-ally Washington, Turkey’s parliament will vote Thursday on its options for bearing down on the extremist group in Syria and Iraq. It is expected to consider opening up Turkey's Incirlik airbase to the U.S.-led coalition and may discuss provisional approval for Turkish ground forces to enter Syria, should Turkey come under attack from ISIL.

With porous borders that have become the front lines in the battle against the Al-Qaeda-inspired insurgency, Turkey is vulnerable to fallout both inside and outside its boundaries. Not to mention that Turkey has been reluctant to assume a more prominent role in the U.S.-led coalition for fear it would undo years of Turkish efforts to overthrow the Assad regime and contain Syria and Iraq's Kurdish minorities — who are allied to the Turkey-based Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK), a separatist group designated by both Ankara and Washington as a terrorist organization.

“Turkey has always seen Syria through the lens of its Kurdish problem,” said Gonul Tol, director of the Center Studies for Turkish at the Middle East Institute in Washington, D.C. However fearful the Turks are of ISIL’s indiscriminate brutality, the group has been helpful in combatting Turkey’s foremost enemies in Syria: the regime of President Bashar al-Assad and the PYD, the PKK’s sister party in Syria. “If you bomb ISIL, you’re not only removing the most effective force against Assad, but the PYD will also benefit,” Tol said.

http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/10/1/turkey-anti-isilcoalition.html