GAZIANTEP, Turkey
The Syrian-Kurdish town Kobani is about to fall into the hands of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said, emphasizing that destroying ISIL would require ground operations along with U.S.-led airstrikes on Syria.
In an address to Syrian refugees during a visit to refugee camps in the town of Islahiye in Turkey's southern Gaziantep province Tuesday, Erdogan said airstrikes should be used alongside forces battling Syrian President Bashar al Assad.
Erdogan said: "As you see there is no achievement yet, despite passing months. Ayn al-Arab, or Kobani with its other name, is about to fall.
"We want three things: First, the establishment of a no-fly zone; second, a safe haven should be established in parallel to the no-fly zone; third, the moderate opposition groups inside Iraq and Syria should be militarily trained and equipped."
An international coalition led by the U.S. began to pound ISIL targets in Syria on September 20, but Erdogan repeated that airstrikes alone would not completely stamp out ISIL.
Discussing the border town in relation to the solution process taking place between Turkey and the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, he said Kobani should not feature in negotiations and Turkey was as much "against terrorism committed by the PKK as it was against that of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant."
PKK is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey as well as by the U.S. and the European Union.
ISIL advance continuing
He said: "People who are talking about Kobani both oppose Turkey's parliamentary mandates for Syria and Iraq and try to use Kobani as a tool for domestic politics as well as blackmail for the future of the solution process."
Erdogan's comments came as ISIL militants continued to advance against Kurdish defenders in the town.
Turkish officials have said the country is against supporting armed groups of the PKK-offshoot Democratic Union Party, or PYD, in Kobani with military and financial aid, notwithstanding they are fighting against ISIL.
Erdogan continued in his address to Syrians: "Until you want to return to your country under your own will, we will continue to accommodate you.
"We defend establishing a free, independent, and an equally representative Syria for all Syrians, together with you."
"Some presumptuous people, who could not acknowledge the importance of being ansar (an Islamic term meaning 'helpers') could show some negative reactions. Such reactions should not be extended to our nation in whole."
West 'indifferent'
Ansar was originally used to describe Medina citizens who helped Prophet Muhammad and other people from Mecca during their emigration to the city.
Erdogan also criticized the Western world regarding their "indifference" towards accommodating Syrian refugees.
He said: "For Syrians in our territories, we carried more than $4 billion in expenses, and the aid we sent into Syria and Iraq exceeded half-a-billion dollars.
"Up to now, Europe has only accepted about 130,000 Syrians and closed their doors. We accommodate more than 1.5 million people in our territories."
"Unfortunately, the sum of aid coming to us from the world has not even reached $200 million. We provide you aid almost only from our own resources," he said.
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