Turkey will decide Thursday if it will allow military incursions into Syria to stop ISIS as its conquering march reaches the predominantly Kurdish border-town of Kobani, also known as Ayn Arab.
According to The Guardian U.K., Turkish leaders have mobilized military forces to protect the border, but have not moved to join a 40-nation coalition led by the U.S. that is actively bombing the militant group within Syrian borders. Thus far, the bombing has slowed but not stopped the group's march.
Several factors may pressure Turkey's parliament and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan into a more active role in the fight, but political experts expect the president will only tacitly accept an alliance with the West, as his base of domestic support was built on an anti-Western narrative.
Turkey remains a member of NATO, and NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg emphasized at a press conference Wednesday that it would aid the country if its border is breached.
The border is currently overrun with refugees fleeing Syria, which some estimates place at 160,000. This flood continues to place pressure on Turkey to play a more active role.
CNN also reported that the tomb of Suleyman Shah, the grandfather of Osman I — the founder of the Ottoman Empire — is potentially in danger of being destroyed. The tomb resides just over the border on Syrian land, however under the terms of 1921's Treaty of Ankara, Turkey was allowed to keep the tomb, station guards on its grounds, and fly the Turkish flag.
Anadolu, the semiofficial Turkish news agency, reported that "increasing security risks" at the tomb are among the reasons cited by hawkish members of parliament for taking the fight against the Islamic State into Syria.
Kobani's local defense force, the Kurdish People's Protection Unit, have reportedly evacuated the city, and are preparing to wage guerilla warfare within the city where they believe they have an advantage.
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