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WASHINGTON
-- In a fresh test for U.S. coalition-building efforts, Turkey is
launching airstrikes against Kurdish rebels inside its borders this week
despite pleas from the Obama administration to instead focus on an
international campaign to destroy Islamic State militants wreaking havoc
in the region.
Media reports about the Turkish
strikes surfaced Tuesday as President Barack Obama and military chiefs
from more than 20 nations gathered in Washington in a show of unity
against the Islamic State group.
"This is an
operation that involves the world against ISIL," Obama declared,
referring to the militant group by one of its many names.
The
Turkish airstrikes occurred Monday and marked the country's first major
strikes against Kurdish rebels on its own soil since peace talks began
two years ago. The strikes came amid anger among the Kurds in Turkey,
who accuse the government there of standing by while Syrian Kurds are
being killed by Islamic State militants in the besieged Syrian border
town of Kobani.
The Islamic State militants also have targeted Kurds in Iraq, who have to some extent been able to hold off their advances.
The
U.S. has been pressing Turkey - a NATO ally - to take a more active
role in the campaign to destroy the Islamic State group, but the Turks
have said they won't join the fight unless the U.S.-led coalition also
targets Syrian President Bashar Assad's government. The Obama
administration sees those as separate fights and has no appetite to go
to war against Assad.
Officials from Ankara participated in Tuesday's meeting at Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland.
Earlier
Tuesday, the U.S.-led coalition stepped up attacks on Islamic State
targets in Kobani, launching 21 airstrikes in and around the town. One
of the strikes targeted the Tel Shair hill that overlooks parts of the
city, according to Idriss Nassan, deputy head of Kobani's foreign
relations committee.
Nassan said Kurdish
fighters later captured the hill and brought down the black flag of the
Islamic State group. However, the extremist group still controls more
than a third of the predominantly Kurdish town.
While
the White House has tried to point out progress in the campaign against
the militants, the government is also preparing the American public for
a military effort that could extend well beyond Obama's presidency.
Officials acknowledged Tuesday that the airstrikes in Kobani may not be
enough to prevent a militant takeover, given the lack of an effective
fighting force on the ground.
"We certainly do
not want the town to fall," White House spokesman Josh Earnest said. "At
the same time, our capacity to prevent that town from falling is
limited by the fact that air strikes can only do so much."
Syrian
Kurds have been begging the international community for heavy weapons
to help bolster their defense of Kobani. They've also called for Turkey
to open the border to allow members of the Kurdish militia in
northwestern Syria - known as the People's Protection Units, or YPG - to
travel through Turkish territory to reinforce the city.
So far, both requests have gone unfulfilled.
The
Kurds of Syria and Iraq have become a major focal point in the war
against the Islamic State group, with Kurdish populations in both
countries threatened by the militants' lightning advance.
Syrian
and Iraqi Kurds took part in cross-border operations to help rescue
tens of thousands of displaced people from the minority Yazidi group
from Iraq's Sinjar Mountain in August.
Turkey,
however, is wary of the Syrian Kurds and their YPG militia, which it
believes is affiliated with the Kurdish PKK movement in southeast Turkey
that has waged a long and bloody insurgency against Ankara. The U.S.
considers the PKK a terrorist group.
The PKK
and Turkey agreed to a cease-fire last year, but the agreement has begun
to unravel. Asked about the reports of a resumption in strikes against
the Kurdish rebels, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Tuesday that
Turkish forces took the "necessary measure" following intense "harassing
fire" by the rebels on a military outpost.
"It is impossible for us to tolerate or to placate these (attacks)," Davutoglu said.
Kurds,
who make up an estimated 20 percent of Turkey's 75 million people, have
faced decades of discrimination, including restrictions on the use of
their language. The PKK has fought Turkey for autonomy for Kurds in a
conflict that has claimed tens of thousands of lives since 1984.
The
U.S. has been pressing Turkey to focus its efforts on the fight against
the Islamic State group, an enemy the Turkish government shares with
the Kurds.
U.S. officials have pointed to some
signs of cooperation from Turkey, including commitments to help stem the
flow of foreign fighters across the border into Syria. The White House
said Tuesday that discussions are also continuing over whether Turkey
will allow the U.S. and other countries to use bases in the country to
launch attacks against the Islamic State group.
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