Turkey To Permit 200 Kurdish Fighters To Enter The Fight For Kobani, But Criticizes U.S. Air Drops For Kurdish Fighters

Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan.(Reuters / Umit Bektas)

Erdogan Says 200 Iraqi Kurd Fighters To Enter Kobani Through Turkey -- Deutsche Welle

The Turkish president says an agreement has been reached on sending 200 Kurdish fighters from Iraq to the embattled Syrian town of Kobani through Turkey. It is the first involvement of Iraqi Kurds in Syria's conflict.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday that Iraqi Kurdish authorities had agreed with the main Kurdish group in the Syrian border town of Kobani to send 200 peshmerga fighters through Turkey to help defend the town, which is under siege by "Islamic State" (IS) militants.

"I have learned that they finally reached agreement on a figure of 200 (fighters)," Erdogan told reporters in the Latvian capital, Riga.

The fighters will join an estimated 2,000 Syrian Kurds fighting the jihadist IS group for control of the town close to the Turkish border.

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More News On Turkey To Permit 200 Kurdish Fighters To Enter Kobani While Criticizing U.S. Air Drops For Kurdish Fighters

Turkey says help coming for Kurds battling ISIS -- CBS/AP
Turkey to allow 200 Iraqi Kurds to cross into embattled Kobane -- AFP
Turkey To Allow 200 Peshmerga Fighters Passage To Kobani -- Radio Free Europe
Turkey clears way for Iraqi Kurdish troops to battle Islamic State in Kobane, Syria -- Washington Post
Erdogan Says U.S. Arms for Kobani’s Kurd Defenders an Error -- Bloomberg
Turkey’s Erdogan Says U.S. Airdrops In Kobani A Big Mistake -- China Topix
Turkish president says American weapons drop for Kurdish fighters was 'wrong' after supplies end up in the hands of ISIS -- Daily Mail

Turkey Will Not Cooperate With The U.S. In Aiding The Kurds Who Are Fighting The Islamic State

Turkey Will Not Cooperate In US Support For Kurds In Syria, Says Erdogan -- The Guardian

* President calls Syrian Kurdish group ‘a terrorist organisation’
* US launches further air strikes against Isis at Kobani

Turkey would not agree to any US arms transfers to Kurdish fighters who are battling Islamic State (Isis) militants in Syria, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was quoted as saying on Sunday, as the extremist group fired more mortar rounds near the Syrian-Turkish border and fighting around the besieged town of Kobani intensified.

Turkey views the main Syrian Kurdish group, the PYD, and its military wing which is fighting Isis militants as an extension of the PKK, which has waged a 30-year insurgency in Turkey and is designated a terror group by the US and Nato.

Washington has said recently that it has engaged in intelligence sharing with Kurdish fighters and officials have not ruled out future arms transfers to the Kurdish fighters.

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More News On Turkey Refusing To Cooperate With The U.S. In Aiding The Kurds Who Are Fighting The Islamic State

Turkey would oppose US arms transfers to Kurds -- AP
Turkey Says No to Arming Kobani Kurds -- VOA
Turkey Rejects Arming Main Syrian Kurdish Party -- Radio Free Europe
Turkey opposes 'IS,' but no arms for Kurds -- Deutsche Welle
Old rivalries keeping Turkey on sidelines of Syria fight, analysts say -- FOX News
Islamic State: Turkey's Erdogan Likens Syrian Kurdish Fighters To PKK Terrorists -- IBTimes
Unmasking Turkey's ISIL strategy -- James Denselow, Al Jazeera
What Turkey Wants in the War on ISIS -- Ibrahim Kalin, IBTimes

Update: This is a good point .... With Friends Like Turkey, Who Needs Enemies? -- Con Coughlin, Telegraph