Analyst: Turkey Wants Collapse of Syria’s Kobane
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – A Lebanese analyst accused the Turkish government of facilitating the fall of the Syrian town of Kobane into the hands of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) terrorists, saying Ankara intends to prevent the formation of a Kurdish ruling system like the one in Iraq.
“The Announcement that Ankara will not allow the fall of Kobane into the hands of the ISIL is a mere propaganda maneuver and Turkey seeks the collapse of Ayn al-Arab (Kobane),” retired Lebanese army Brigadier General Amin Hotait, who is also an expert in military and strategic affairs, told the Tasnim News Agency on Saturday.
Ankara has also blocked Turkish Kurds’ access to Kobane who want to help their kinsmen defend the city against the ISIL militants, Hotait added, and pointed the finger of blame at Turkey for blocking the entire relief and logistic paths to the besieged town.
He said Turkey wants to see Kobane collapsed, since it is one of the major Kurdish cities, adding, “One of Turkey’s strategic goals in Syria is to prevent a Kurdish political establishment that might endanger Turkey’s integrity.”
The analyst also stressed that the possible fall of Kobane will amount to a “big scandal” for the US-led coalition against the ISIL militants.
“The collapse of Kobane will indeed mean Turkey’s victory against Kurds, and will also cause a big scandal for the international anti-ISIL coalition, because Ayn al-Arab would have not collapsed if there had not been such a coalition and Turkey’s interference,” the analyst pointed out.
The Kurdish Syrian town of Kobane has been subject to ferocious attacks by the ISIL militants over the past three weeks.
ISIL fighters have captured hundreds of Kurdish villages around the border town, forcing some 200,000 of people to flee.
The ISIL declared a caliphate in June and has seized vast swaths of territory in Iraq and Syria, displacing thousands of people mainly from minority communities.
