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BBC's Ghattas: Coalition's 'Conflicting Agendas' Complicate ISIS Fight

By Wanda Carruthers | Wednesday, 08 October 2014 09:57 AM EDT

There are many "conflicting agendas" that involve domestic policy concerns among the countries in the coalition fighting the Islamic State (ISIS), and they are complicating the effort to battle the militant organization, BBC correspondent Kim Ghattas told MSNBC's "Morning Joe."

Turkish forces have yet to fight ISIS as the Islamic militants draw closer to overtaking Kobani in northern Syria near Turkey's southern border.

Ghattas said the Turks were urging the United States to "focus more on trying to bring down [Syrian President Bashar ] Assad instead of only focusing on ISIS."

"There are a lot of very conflicting agendas in this coalition," Ghattas said Wednesday. "They have their own domestic politics that they have to worry about."

A concern among Turks was "Kurdish separatist ambitions," and the effects success by the Kurds could have on the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) in Turkey, Ghattas said.

"They're very worried about the Kurds fighting there, because they're worried that this will empower them and give ideas to the PKK within Turkey," she said.

Ghattas said that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan considered the Islamic State and the PKK "almost equally bad," adding that it presented a "tricky situation" if the Kurds did gain power.

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