Turkey: Only Syrian Refugees can Cross to Kobane

Local Editor

Turkey on Wednesday said only Syrian refugees would be allowed to cross its border to fight "ISIL" in the mainly Kurdish town of Kobane, rejecting calls to fully open the frontier.

Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told reporters that "those coming from Syria can go back to join the fight" for Kobane, but that Turkish, including Turkish Kurds, and other nationals would not be allowed to cross the border.

Kurdish fighters are seeking to hold back the advance by the "ISIL" to take Kobane and Turkey is coming under increasing pressure to allow Kurdish reinforcements to cross the nearby border.

"It's not acceptable to claim that this crisis has happened just because Turkey is not opening its borders," Davutoglu said.
"We don't let Turkish citizens go into Syria because we don't want them to be a part of the conflict in Syria. We are trying to stop those who are attempting to do so illegally. It is against the laws in a constitutional state," he said.

Davutoglu said Syrian refugees however "haven't asked for our permission to come here and they don't need our permission to go back." He added that those refugees did not want to return.
Davutoglu's comments come after French President Francois Hollande on Tuesday said Turkey "must absolutely open its border" to allow reinforcements to reach Kobane.

UN envoy Staffan de Mistura last week called on Turkey to allow volunteers and their equipment to be able to enter Kobane to contribute to its defense.
"It's easy to talk from Paris. Do they know what's happening on the ground?" snapped Davutoglu, pointing to how Turkey was hosting some 200,000 refugees from the Kobane region.

Frustrated with Turkey's lack of action to stop "ISIL" advance in northern Syria, Turkey's Kurdish community has taken to streets in several cities in the southeast over the past week, with at least 31 killed and 360 others injured in four days of deadly clashes.

Kurds say they do not want Turkish troops in Kobane, but want Turkey to allow its territory to be used for passing weapons to Kurdish fighters defending the key Syrian town, an idea Ankara has so far rejected.

The US-led coalition has launched about 40 airstrikes on the mainly Kurdish town of Kobane in the past 48 hours, the largest number since the strikes inside Syria began on September 22 and illustrating the difficulty of staunching a nearly month-long "ISIL" offensive on the town.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team