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Why Turkey Is Hesitating to Prevent Fall of Kobane
(Christian Science Monitor) Alexander Christie-Miller - As the Islamic State's three-week assault on the Syrian Kurdish town of Kobane appeared to enter its endgame, its last hope likely hinges on Turkey, which is resisting mounting pressure from its own Kurdish minority to assist Kobane's defenders. "Kobane is about to fall," President Erdogan told Turkish television on Tuesday. Turkey remains wary of the Kurdish-nationalist militias defending the besieged town. The Democratic Union Party (PYD), that has run Syria's Kurdish-populated region since the Assad regime withdrew in 2012, has close links to the PKK, the Kurdish rebel group that fought a 30-year insurgency against Turkey and is regarded by Ankara as a terrorist group. "Turkey is more than happy that the semi-autonomy declared by Syria's Kurds is being demolished by the so-called Islamic State," says Cengiz Aktar, a political scientist at Istanbul's Suleyman Sah University.