Kurds Reject Erdogan Report of Deal with Syrian Rebels to Aid Besieged Kobani

Saturday, 25 October 2014

Kurds Reject Erdogan Report of Deal with Syrian Rebels to Aid Besieged Kobani

Local Editor

Kurdish Fighters

A senior Syrian Kurdish official on Friday rejected a report from Turkey's president that Syrian Kurds had agreed to let "Free Syrian Army" fighters enter the border town of Kobani to help them push back besieging ISIL terrorists.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday said 1,300 FSA fighters would enter Kobani after the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) agreed on their passage, but his comments were swiftly denied by Saleh Moslem, co-chair of the PYD.

"We have already established a connection with FSA but no such agreement has been reached yet as Mr. Erdogan has mentioned," Moslem told Reuters by telephone from Brussels.

Turkey's unwillingness to send its powerful army across the Syrian border to break the siege of Kobani has angered Kurds, and seems rooted in a concern not to strengthen Kurds who seek autonomy in adjoining regions of Turkey, Iraq and Syria.

Moslem said the FSA would be more helpful if it opened a second front against ISIL elsewhere in Syria. "Politically we have no objections to FSA....But in my opinion, if they really would like to help, then their forces should open another front, such as from Tel Abyad or Jarablus," he said.