Turkey calls on US to intensify airstrikes against ISIL in Kobane

Turkey has called on the United States to intensify its aerial attacks against the jihadist militants in northern Syria to avoid the fall of Kobane, a senior Turkish official has said.

“Our government and related institutions have underlined the necessity to intensify aerial bombings in a more active and effective ways through contacts with U.S. officials until late into yesterday night,” Deputy Prime Minister Yalçın Akdoğan said in a written statement on Oct. 7.

Turkey’s perceived inaction has drawn criticism from Kurdish political parties with protests around the country, but Akdoğan emphasized the large amount of humanitarian aid given by Turkey to the region.

“It’s great unfairness to claim that Turkey is doing nothing,” he said.

“Turkey will not be content with the fall of Kobane into the hands of terrorist organizations. It should be well-known that any attempts of violence and vandalism threatening the peace of our people will not be tolerated," Akdoğan added.

The deputy prime minister also announced that a security meeting would be held today under the leadership of Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu but described it was a "routine" meeting.

Meanwhile,  the international community should immediately act to defend the key Syrian border town of Kobane, on the verge of falling to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group, the UN's peace envoy to Syria said Oct. 7.

"The world, all of us, will regret deeply if ISIL is able to take over a city which has defended itself with courage but is close to not being able to do so. We need to act now," Staffan de Mistura said in a statement.http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkey-calls-on-us-to-intensify-airstrikes-against-isil-in-kobane-.aspx?pageID=238&nID=72675&NewsCatID=510
7/10/14
--
-
Related:

• Cyprus suspends unification talks.... (after Turkey's "aggressive" plan to start test drilling off south island coast)

• Turkey poses threat to talks on Cyprus settlement (Ioannis Kasoulides, Cypriot FM)

• The Foreign Ministry’s Secretary General, Ambassador A. Mitsialis, makes a demarche to the Turkish Ambassador to Athens, K. Uras...

----

• Video: US Vice President Biden says Turkish President Erdoğan admitted ISIL mistake. "Poured hundreds of millions dollars, and tens thousands of tones of weapons into anyone who would fight against al-Assad"

• Erdogan: Syrian town Kobane about to fall to ISIS....

• The NATO military alliance devised a contingency plan for Turkey after the first uprisings erupted in neighboring Syria, Turkish Defense Minister Ismet Yilmaz told journalists Tuesday....

-----

• Assad removal proviso for Turkish boots in Syria: PM...

Turkey is prepared to send ground forces to help eradicate ISIL in Syria if it gets international assurances for its borders and the removal of the Syrian regime, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Monday.
In an exclusive interview with CNN International's Christiane Amanpour, the prime minister said that without the removal of Syrian President Bashar Assad, the Syrian regime's ongoing offensives posed as big a threat as that caused by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, also referred to as ISIL or ISIS.
"We are ready to do everything as long as there is a clear strategy that after ISIS we can be sure that our borders will be protected,” he said. "We don't want the (Assad) regime on our border any more, pushing people against -- towards Turkey."
"If ISIS goes, another radical organization may come in as long as Assad stays in his seat," he added.
Davutoglu emphasized the need for a comprehensive international strategy to defeat the terrorist elements threatening the entire region and displacing millions of people, especially in the last few months.
"So our approach should be ... not just to punish -- to satisfy our public opinion -- to punish one terrorist organization, but to eliminate all terrorist threats in the future, and also to eliminate all brutal crimes against humanity committed by the regime," he said..............http://www.aa.com.tr/en/headline/400506--assad-removal-proviso-for-turkish-boots-in-syria-pm