Turkey's ISIL dilemma

Ankara is under mounting internal and external pressure to act as the battle for Kobane continues

The US and Britain have warned air strikes alone will not be enough to hold back ISIL from taking over the town and others like it. And officials in Washington are increasingly frustrated their NATO ally, Turkey, is refusing to intervene to help Kobane. Either by using its military or by helping Kurdish fighters.

Ankara's reluctance has triggered violent protests inisde Turkey itself. Pro-Kurdish demonstrators have fought police across the country, killing at least a dozen and injuring many more.

Turkey says it will not get involved unless a safe area, including a no-fly zone, is imposed in northern Syria and unless it gets assurances that the US-led alliance will go after Syrian President Bashar al Assad.

From The New York Times
Mr. Erdogan’s Dangerous Game
Turkey’s Refusal to Fight ISIS Hurts the Kurds

Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, once aspired to lead the Muslim world. At this time of regional crisis, he has been anything but a leader. Turkish troops and tanks have been standing passively behind a chicken-wire border fence while a mile away in Syria, Islamic extremists are besieging the town of Kobani and its Kurdish population.

This is an indictment of Mr. Erdogan and his cynical political calculations. By keeping his forces on the sidelines and refusing to help in other ways — like allowing Kurdish fighters to pass through Turkey — he seeks not only to weaken the Kurds, but also, in a test of will with President Obama, to force the United States to help him oust President Bashar al-Assad of Syria, whom he detests.