Here is some news from a few minutes ago, suggesting that the outcome is not predetermined:
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-29585459
---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Just Foreign Policy <info at justforeignpolicy.org> Date: Sat, Oct 11, 2014 at 1:44 PM Subject: true urgency: ask USG to press Turkey to save Kurds To: naiman at justforeignpolicy.org
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Dear Robert,
Urge President Obama and Congress to do all they can to press Turkey to allow Kurds to save Kurds from massacre by ISIS.
Sign/share our petition <http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=A6LCzj3mpKi6%2Bb162Ycxn0Xkj36ijn0r>
As I write these words, press reports indicate that ISIS fighters have captured half of the Syrian Kurdish town of Kobane, near the Syrian border with Turkey. U.N. envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura warned yesterday that 12,000 civilians in or near Kobane face massacre if the town falls to ISIS. [1] In a very rare move for a U.N. official, de Mistura urged Turkey to allow Kurdish fighters to cross the border from Turkey to help save Kobane and its civilian residents from ISIS.
*Urge President Obama and Members of Congress to strongly back U.N. envoy for Syria de Mistura’s call on Turkey to change its policy and save Syrian Kurdish civilians from massacre by ISIS, by signing and sharing our petition at MoveOn: ** http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/act/save-kobane* <http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=KXcsc7CucCyobstnWqIC%2BUXkj36ijn0r>
Here is the petition text:
*“President Obama and U.S. officials, including Members of Congress, should do everything in their power to pressure Turkey to allow Kurds to defend the Syrian Kurdish border town of Kobane from the ISIS assault, and should do everything in their power to pressure Turkey to allow Syrian Kurdish civilians to escape Kobane.”*
UN envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura has warned that 12,000 or so civilians still in or near Kobane, including 700 mainly elderly people in Kobane's center, "will most likely be massacred" by ISIS if the town falls to ISIS jihadists.
De Mistura called on Turkey "to support the deterrent actions of the coalition through whatever means from their own territory," and appealed to Turkey to "allow the flow of volunteers at least, and their equipment to be able to enter the city to contribute to a self-defense operation."
*Urge President Obama and Members of Congress to do everything in their power to pressure Turkey to help stop the massacre of Syrian Kurdish civilians in Kobane by signing and sharing our petition.*
*http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/act/save-kobane* <http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=XTyyao3OboDLJpmz83rD70Xkj36ijn0r>
Thanks for all you do to help make U.S. foreign policy more just,
Robert Naiman Just Foreign Policy
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References:
1. “Jihadists seize Kurdish HQ in Syria's Kobane, massacre feared,” Fulya Ozerkan and Sara Hussein, AFP, October 10, http://news.yahoo.com/fighters-capture-kurd-hq-syrias-kobane-monitor-113638651.html <http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=IR%2FyqUw9oiHlOkO7weMhOEXkj36ijn0r> [Note: some English-language media transliterate the name of the town as “Kobani”; we followed the AFP usage in our petition and alert.]
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