Konflikten i Syrien

"The youth of northern Kurdistan (southeast Turkey) should go to Kobane (Ayn al-Arab) and take part in the historic, honorable resistance," the PKK said in a statement on its website.

The co-chair of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), Selahattin Demirtaş, has called on "all young people" to fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

“I’m making a call for defense on the battlefront to all young people. Today, human dignity is being defended. The youth, including Turks, Kurds, Alevis and Sunnis, should resist the barbaric actions of ISIL,” Demirtaş said Sept. 19, following the militant group’s advance toward Kobane.

The HDP co-chair also urged the government to change its attitude toward ISIL, suggesting that the fall of Kobane would harm not only Kurds, but also the whole of Turkey.

“Kurds are not just defending Kobane. They are defending but the whole region, including Turkey. Everyone should know that Istanbul is also among ISIL’s targets. Those who remain silent today could regret it tomorrow,” Demirtaş said, mentioning plans to hold meetings with U.S. officials in Washington next week.

Q: You were first to expose the Turkish support to takfiri groups. How do you view this support?

Bayek: We don’t have the slightest doubt that Turkey has from the beginning supported these groups of mercenaries against the peoples of the region, especially the Syrian people and the people of western Kurdistan. Among the groups [that Turkey supports] are Jabhat al-Nusra and IS, to which Ankara provided support in secret, and sometimes openly. ... This matter is now being mentioned in the global media, not only in Kurdish media. We have been warning about this support for a long time. Hundreds, if not thousands, of mercenaries have come to Syria by using Turkish airspace and territory. Turkey provided them with logistical materiel and arms. ... These mercenaries have [centers] in Istanbul, where they gather and organize themselves, and then they go to Syria by using Gilanbanar and Hatay as crossing points. Also, the Islamic State's wounded [members] are being treated in hospitals in Gaziantep and Hatay. These things have been mentioned by Turkish media also. Moreover, the confessions of IS prisoners who have fallen into the hands of the People’s Protection Units have revealed how Turkey has given them assistance, opened the way for them to fight in Syria, and provided them with logistical materiel. These facts are clear and documented. We have no doubt about this matter.

"I call on the international community to use every means as soon as possible to protect Kobani," said Masoud Barzani, the president of Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region in a statement. "IS terrorists... must be hit and destroyed wherever they are."