Will Turkey intervene? Look which way the military is pointing. #Kobane pic.twitter.com/jY5eDcuSDc
— Paul Adams (@BBCPaulAdams) October 3, 2014
Amid heaviest fighting we've seen, the Turkish army has armoured vehicles pointing away from Kobane. The symbolism is powerful.
— Paul Adams (@BBCPaulAdams) October 3, 2014
The Guardian reports: The Turkish prime minister has said the country will do “whatever we can” to stop the Syrian Kurdish border town of Kobani falling to Islamic State (Isis) as MPs voted to authorise military action against the militants.
Ahmet Davutoğlu spoke hours after the vote in the Turkish parliament, which authorises cross-border raids and allows coalition forces to launch operations from Turkish territory. Isis fighters are within a few miles of the town centre on three sides.
“We wouldn’t want Kobani to fall. We’ll do whatever we can to prevent this from happening,” Davutoğlu said in a discussion with journalists broadcast on the A Haber television channel.
“No other country has the capacity to affect the developments in Syria and Iraq. No other country will be affected like us either,” he said. His comments were in contrast to the Turkish defence minister, Ismet Yilmaz, who earlier said operations should not be expected immediately. [Continue reading…]
