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US worried Turkey may target Kurds

WASHINGTON — Even as it prods Turkey to step up in the global fight against Islamic State militants, the United States is worried that Ankara might use military action to target Kurdish fighters who are the last line of defence against extremists trying to take over the Syrian border town of Kobani.

WASHINGTON — Even as it prods Turkey to step up in the global fight against Islamic State militants, the United States is worried that Ankara might use military action to target Kurdish fighters who are the last line of defence against extremists trying to take over the Syrian border town of Kobani.

US officials acknowledge that drawing Ankara into the war could open a new line of attack against a Kurdish movement that has, for decades, sought greater autonomy inside Turkey.

At the same time, American officials fear Turkey could simply choose to remain out of the fray and let two of its enemies — the Islamic State group and Kurdish guerrillas — fight for Kobani. That would give the militants an opportunity to do as much damage to the Kurdish fighters in Syria as possible.

Neither scenario is agreeable, the officials said. The issues and implications are expected to be broached, delicately, when US envoys coordinating the international response to the Islamic State group meet today with Turkish leaders in Ankara.

For months, Turkey resisted using force against the Islamic State, which has rampaged through large amounts of territory just over its borders in Iraq and Syria. Until recently, its reluctance had been mostly excused out of security concerns for dozens of Turkish diplomats and employees who were kidnapped by the militants from the Iraqi city Mosul in June. The hostages were freed last month.

Since then, American officials have grown increasingly frustrated by Ankara’s inaction against the Islamic militants, yet simultaneously nervous about what a Turkish military response would mean for the Kurdish fighters at Kobani.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said yesterday that Turkey is prepared to take on a bigger role once a deal is reached with the US-led coalition. “Turkey will not hold back from carrying out its role,” he said.

Secretary of State John Kerry and Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu have spoken at least twice this week and special US envoy retired Marine General John Allen is hoping for answers in his meetings in Ankara on how Turkey plans to join the battle.

Last week, Turkey’s Parliament approved a measure to allow for assaults on the Islamic State group, a step the US and other world leaders viewed as Ankara’s decision to enter the conflict. But largely left unsaid was that the measure still allows Turkish troops to take aim at the Kurdish separatists.

The Kurdish fighters in Syria, known as the YPG, are tied to the Kurdistan Worker’s Party, or PKK, the Kurdish separatist guerrilla movement that is fiercely opposed by the Turks. Both Ankara and Washington have designated the PKK as a terrorist organisation. The US does not consider the Syrian Kurdish fighting force or its political wing, the Kurdish Democratic Union, terrorist organisations.

Still, Washington has distanced itself from both. The State Department said this week that US officials have engaged with the Kurdish political party only through intermediaries.

But the Obama administration knows that the Kurdish fighters in Syria are the only force on the ground standing between the Islamic State militants and Kobani. More than 400 people have been killed in brutal clashes, said activists, and fighting has forced at least 200,000 town residents and villagers to flee across the border into Turkey.

The US military conducted five air strikes against Islamic State positions near Kobani on Wednesday and yesterday, US Central Command reported, saying, “Indications are that Kurdish militia there continue to control most of the city and are holding out against the militants.” AP

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