Turkey hosts Kobani talks

Thursday marked the start of a two-day meeting in Ankara, where officials were expected to discuss the growing threat the "Islamic State" (IS) poses to Turkish security.

Newly appointed NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg was scheduled to meet with Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on Thursday morning, followed by meetings later in the day with Turkey's president, prime minister and defense minister. Washington also dispatched several envoys to take part in the talks.

In mid-September, IS launched an offensive on the Syrian town of Kobani, which lies close to the Turkish border. The local Kurdish population has been struggling to retain control over the area, but even with the help of US airstrikes destroying IS targets, the battle for the town appears on the verge of collapse.

Though Washington has denied that losing Kobani would be a blow to its military strategy, gaining control over the border town could expand IS's influence, posing an even greater threat the security of NATO member Turkey.

Will Turkey intervene?

The question of which government or military coalition should intervene looms over the two-days talks, as leaders watch in fear as the town looks ready to fall to IS, which already controls large swaths of Syria and Iraq.

This week, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called on the US-led coalition to deploy troops: "I am telling the West - dropping bombs from the air will not provide a solution."

Erdogan has thus far refused to join the US-led mission against IS without Washington's promise that it would also take action against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

The Pentagon has underscored the danger of committing soldiers to an unrealistic military strategy, underscoring the US's reticence after failed combat operations in Afghanistan and Iraq against extremists.

"We don't have a willing, capable, effective partner on the ground inside Syria right now. It's just a fact," Pentagon spokesperson Rear Admiral John Kirby told reporters in Washington n Wednesday.

A further key issue during the two-day talks will be Erdogan's request for a buffer zone. Though France's president, Francois Hollande, has backed the idea for the humanitarian corridor on the Syrian side of the border. The United States has expressed reluctance, given the cost and complexity of its creation.

Kurds protest

Kurds both in Turkey and Europe have launched protests this week to draw attention to Ankara's inaction and to call for the US-led coalition to do more.

Peaceful protests have taken place at the European Parliament, the Dutch parliament and across several cities in Germany. However, overnight Wednesday and into Thursday morning, Islamist supporters clashed with the demonstrators in the northern cities of Hamburg and Celle. At least 20 people were injured.

Meanwhile, in southeastern Turkey, at least 14 people were killed in similar clashes.

Relations between the Turkish government and the country's Kurdish population have long been tense. The separatist guerrilla movement known as the PKK - the Kurdistan Worker's Party - engaged a decades-long conflict with the Turkish government claimed more than 40,000 lives.

Despite a ceasefire last year, tensions remain strained between Ankara and the PKK, raising concern among Turkey's allies that the animosity between the two sides might lie at the root of Erdogan's inaction in Kobani.

kms/mkg (AP, AFP, Reuters, dpa)