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Erdogan objects, not only to being thrown under the bus by VP Biden, but also the truth of the matter that the Turks, along with Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states have been supplying the Jihadists to overthrow Erdogan's former ally, Bashar al-Assad.
The truth is that the Turkish authorities are trying to stop, not those going to fight for ISIS but those who want to join the fight against the Jihadists.
Battle
for Kobane: Turkey fires tear gas at activists trying to enter Syria
Turkey’s security forces have fired tear gas at dozens of Turkish and Kurdish activists trying to cross into Syria. On the other side of the border, a major city in Syrian Kurdistan is under increased assault from Islamic State militants.
RT,
4
October, 2014
Authorities
used tear gas in the town of Suruc, Sanliurfa province, on Saturday as activists ignored calls to disperse, Turkey's Hurriyet daily reported.
The activists were reportedly trying to cross the border into Syria to help defend the city of Kobane against IS militants. The border city, located in Syria's north, is a strategic point for the jihadists; if the city falls to the militants, it would provide a direct link to their captured territories in Aleppo and Raqqa.
The
Islamists have been attempting to capture Ayn al-Arab – also known
under the Kurdish name of Kobane – since September. The Kurds have
so far managed to keep control of the area, but militants have
pledged to take it over by the beginning of Eid al-Adha, or Feast of
Sacrifice.
Nevertheless,
city authorities said on Saturday that the Kurds were still in
control as fighting between the Syrian Kurdish militia (YPG) and IS
militants continued, according to Turkey's Doğan News Agency.
The
Kurdistan Workers' Party announced general mobilization to defend
Kobane on Friday, as the city was under heavy shelling from IS, the
Lebanese Al-Mayadeen TV channel reported. It also said that IS
fighters claimed the southern and eastern approaches to the city.
The
battle for Kobane comes after Turkey’s Prime Minister Ahmet
Davutoglu said on Thursday that Ankara would do “whatever
we can”
to stop IS from capturing Kobane, as the Turkish army received the
green light from parliament to engage in military action against the
insurgents in Syria and Iraq.
Ankara
has strained relations with the largest ethnic Kurdish minority in
the country, which has been demanding a separate state for decades
while using both peaceful protests and guerrilla warfare.
On
Saturday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan even compared the
Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) to IS militants.
"The
IS for us are the same thing as the PKK. It's erroneous to consider
and regard them separately. There are other terrorist organizations
apart from them. And we, as well as the whole world, must assess them
right," Erdogan
told reporters at the celebration of Eid al-Adha in Istanbul.
Syria
has warned Turkey that any military involvement on its territory
would be considered an act of “real
aggression against a member state of the United Nations."
Ankara
has been one of the Syrian opposition’s major backers during the
civil war to overthrow Syrian President Bashar Assad.
Turkey
has been widely criticized for turning a blind eye to foreign
radicals passing through the country en route to Syria.
The
latest comments made by US Vice President Joe Biden on Thursday have
outraged Erdogan. Biden stated that the Turkish president had
admitted to making a mistake in allowing foreign fighters to cross
the Turkish border into Syria.
"If
Biden told these words, then he will be history to me. I never
uttered such remarks,"
Hurriyet quoted Erdogan as saying.
Following
the Turkish army's approval to use military force, no specific
commitments have yet been made to stop IS. Meanwhile, airstrikes
launched by the US-led coalition on Syria do not appear to be slowing
down the advance of IS militants.
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