ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Kurdistan Region overwhelmingly approved the proposal to send its Peshmerga to support under-armed Kurdish fighters in Kobane. "This is a big turning point in Kurdish history," said Mohammed Yousef, the speaker of the Kurdish Parliament. "Troops used to be sent to occupy Kurdish lands, but now we are sending soldiers to protect our Kurdish brothers abroad." Jabbar Yawar, Secretary-General of the Ministry of Peshmerga could not reveal the number of soldiers for security reasons, but he told Rudaw it would be "a small unit of Peshmerga forces with heavy weapons.” Parliament passed the vote with the support of all political parties on Wednesday afternoon, with members of parliament bursting into applause and singing of the national anthem upon its approval. The Peshmerga fighters will provide cover for members of the People’s Protection Units (YPG), a Syrian Kurdish militia that has withheld a brutal siege by Islamic State (ISIS) militants for over a month. The Kurdish troops await a presidential order to deploy. But according to the president’s office, they will arrive in Kobane the next days, making them the first international ground force to come to the aid of Kobane’s soldiers and civilians. Minister of he Peshmerga Mustafa Said Qadir told reporters after the vote that Peshmerga "would stay as long as they were required." Kurdish officials have made clear that Peshmerga will not form a joint command with the YPG, nor will they provide heavy weapons to Syrian fighters. Their role will be to provide strategic cover to YPG infantry. Dozens of US-led coalition airstrikes targeted positions in Kobane over the last month, with particular intensity one week ago. But strikes alone have been unable to drive ISIS out of the city, and the Peshmerga will provide much needed heavy weapon cover to YPG fighters—armed with little more than antiquated Kalashnikovs—fighting Humvees and tanks. "We knew people from Kobane were calling for our Peshmerga to go to the city with heavy weapons and stop the attacks," parliamentarian Ali Halo tells Rudaw. "Deploying them will help bring west and south Kurdistan together,” a reference to Syrian Kurdistan and Iraqi Kurdistan, who’s respective governments have feuded in the last years. The plan is the result of secret negotiations between the Kurdistan Region, Syrian Kurds, Americans, and Turkish officials. After the Kurdistan Region presidency proposed the idea two weeks ago, a series of meetings were held in Dohuk and Ankara before all parties finalized the plan just days ago. After weeks of military inaction along their border, Turkish officials surprised the world days ago when they announced knowledge of the plan. “Actually, we are helping Peshmerga forces to enter into Kobane to give support,” Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Cavusoglu told reporters in Ankara on Monday. “Turkey has no wish see Kobane fall.' The arrangement suits Turkish policymakers seeking to find a way to fight ISIS without directly providing heavy weapons to the Syrian Kurds due to their ties with the Kurdistan Workers Party, which has waged a decades-long war against their government. Frustrated by Turkish military inaction despite the humanitarian crisis in the city, American C-130 planes dropped weapons, ammunition, and medical supplies in PYD-controlled territory in Kobane on Monday morning. Speaking at a news conference in Ankara on Wednesday, Turkish President criticized the airdrop, calling it “wrong” because a part of the delivery accidentally fell into the hands of ISIS. Jabbar Yawar confirmed that Peshmerga forces have not yet left Kurdistan for their passage through Turkey.
