AlHijjah 26, 1435, October 20, 2014, SPA -- In a significant shift, Turkey's top diplomat announced on Monday that his country is helping Iraqi Kurdish fighters cross into Syria to "give support" to fellow Kurds defending the border town of Kobani from Islamic State militants, AP reported. The remarks by Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu came hours after the U.S. military announced it for the first time had airdropped weapons, ammunition and medical supplies provided by Iraqi Kurdish authorities to Kurdish forces in Kobani. Sunday's airdrops followed weeks of U.S. and coalition airstrikes in and near Kobani, along the Syrian-Turkish border. A U.S. military official, who was not authorized to discuss the matter by name, said the airdrops included small arms. Turkey previously has said it would oppose any U.S. arms transfers to the Kurdish rebels in Syria. It views the main Kurdish group in Syria as an extension of the Turkish Kurd group known as the PKK, which has waged a 30-year insurgency in Turkey and is designated a terrorist group by the U.S. and by NATO. Although a significant departure from previous positions, Turkey's decision to allow fighters to cross its territory is not a complete change of policy, since it involves Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga forces rather than the PKK. It remains uncertain, however, whether Ankara would allow large numbers of heavily armed Iraqi Kurdish fighters to make the journey and if significant numbers are likely to do so given the threat IS still poses to Kurdish areas in Iraq. "Iraq's Kurdish regional government announced that they are in cooperation with Turkey and the U.S.," Cavusoglu said at a press conference in the Turkish capital, Ankara. "Actually, we are helping peshmerga forces to enter into Kobani to give support," he added, speaking at a joint news conference with visiting Tunisian Foreign Minister Mongi Hamdi.
