Turkey has changed course and is now helping Iraqi Kurdish fighters cross through Turkey into Syria to join the fight against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), the Turkish foreign minister said Monday.
{mosads}The role of Turkey, a NATO ally, in the fight against ISIS has been a source of debate in the United States, as many lawmakers have indicated it is not doing enough.
The step comes as the U.S. announced on Sunday that it has dropped arms and supplies to Kurdish forces in Syria defending the city of Kobani against ISIS militants.
“We are assisting Peshmerga forces to cross into Kobani,” Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, referring to Iraqi Kurdish fighters, said Monday, according to Agence France-Presse. He did not give further details.
“We have no wish at all to see Kobani fall” to the jihadists, he added.
While not directly commenting on the U.S. airdrops to the Syrian Kurds, the minister did not object to them.
“We have been in full cooperation with the coalition,” he said. “We want to be rid of all the threats in the region.”
The involvement of the Kurds in fighting ISIS has complicated any assistance from Turkey, because the country has long been fighting Kurdish separatists.