ISTANBUL, Turkey – Kobane’s Kurdish defenders do “not want” Peshmerga forces from Iraqi Kurdistan to help thwart a takeover of Kobane by the Islamic State (ISIS), Turkey’s president was quoted as saying Sunday.
Turkish media quoted President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as saying that the Democratic Union Party (PYD), whose forces have been fighting to defend Kobane for more than a month against ISIS, wanted to keep its dominance in the Syrian Kurdish city that sits hard on the border with Turkey.
“The PYD does not want the Peshmerga to come,” Erdogan said in published comments. “The PYD thinks its game will be ruined with the arrival of the Peshmerga – their set-up will be spoilt,” he added.
Erdogan also called the PYD a “terrorist group.” Ankara has remained opposed to the group because of its links to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has fought a 30-year war for autonomy for Turkey’s estimated 15 million Kurds.
“The PYD is a terrorist group, just like the PKK,” Erdogan was quoted as saying.
Last week Turkey announced it would allow some 150 Peshmerga forces from the Kurdistan Region to cross into Kobane to fight alongside the People’s Protection Units (YPG), the PYD’s military wing.
The Peshmerga forces were due to arrive on Monday, according to Peshmerga sources. But following Erdogan’s comments, it remains unclear whether that deployment will go ahead as planned.
Erdogan also said last week that the Peshmerga would be joined in the fight for Kobane by 1,300 fighters from the Free Syrian Army (FSA), which has been fighting to overthrow the Damascus regime for more than three years.
Meanwhile, fighting erupted again on Sunday between ISIS and the YPG, when coalition airplanes bombed an ISIS target at approximately 12:30 pm.
Two large pillars of smoke rose above the city, one the result of the airstrike in the ISIS-controlled eastern part of the city and a much larger plume from western neighborhoods held by the YPG following a militant attack.
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