Turkey is facing potentially sharing a border with the Islamic State, but on Monday, it sent fighter jets to bomb the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) instead, according to Time.
The air strikes have ended the ceasefire that started in March 2013. According to Time, the Turkish Armed Forces posted a statement: "In an immediate response, the terrorists were silenced through the military means available."
Troubles have been brewing between Turkey and Kurdish rebels since ISIS planted its flag in Kobani, Syria, a border town of Turkey. The Kurds are angry that Turkey has refused to help the city under attack. HNGN reported earlier this month that NATO said it would protect Turkey should the Islamic State spill over the border. Turkey has not reached out to Kobani in the same manner and the PKK is ready to respond.
"Because Turkey has continued to pursue its policies without any changes, we have sent back all our fighters that were pulled out of Turkey," a senior PKK commander, Cemil Bayik, said.
Turkey has allowed refugees to seek refuge in its country - 180,000 refugees have crossed the border so far- but Turkey draws the line at permitting aid or weapons to cross into Syria, according to Time.
"Turkey cannot actually give weapons [to] civilians and ask [them] to go back to fight with terrorist groups," foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said. "Sending civilians to the war is a crime."
According to Time, Turkey has flat-out refused to fight ISIS in Syria and the prime minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, said, "Turkey will not embark on an adventure at the insistence of some countries unless the international community does what is necessary and introduces an integrated strategy." Davutoglu thinks there are matters to be taken care of by Western forces before worrying about the Islamic State, like removing Bashar al Assad from Damascus.
According to Reuters, PKK's leader, Abdullah Ocalan, released a statement on Oct. 2 warning of the problems that would arise when ISIS took control of Kobani. "If this massacre attempt achieves its goal it will end the process," Ocalan said.
He continued, "I urge everyone in Turkey who does not want the process and the democracy voyage to collapse to take responsibility in Kobani."
Turkish officials denied allowing the U.S. to use air bases for the air strikes against the Islamic State, according to Time, and Turkey's president, Recep Tayyip, has said that the PKK and ISIS need to be handled "jointly."
But Cengiz Candar, a columnist with the Turkish newspaper Radikal, said, "To [PKK leader] Ocalan, it says that nothing is for certain when it comes to the future of the peace process, so keep on board, behave, and don't raise the bar too high. And to the U.S. and other coalition members, it says that the PKK is still a priority for us, and not ISIS, as much as you'd want it to be otherwise."
The Wall Street Journal reported this morning that The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria has established its own geographic and political borders to encompass the land it claimed in both countries. This has cut off some citizens in those areas from family, friends and jobs.
