Turkey refuses safe haven to Srian Kurds fleeing Islamic state

Turkey prevented 3,000 Kurdish refugees fleeing an Islamic State advance in northern Syria from seeking sanctuary over its border.

“We're ready to aid our brothers who have huddled on the border without considering their ethnic, religious or sectarian origin,” Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said yesterday in Ankara. “However, our priority is to deliver aid within Syria's borders as much as possible.”

Turkish troops lined up behind barbed wire at a section of the border crossing between Syria and Turkey yesterday to keep the refugees back, Hurriyet newspaper said today. Fighters from the al-Qaeda breakaway group sparked the exodus after they captured 21 Kurdish villages in Syria. The premier's press officers are traveling with him in Azerbaijan and calls to their mobile phones weren't answered.

Turkey has refrained from publicly backing a U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State, citing concerns about 49 Turkish hostages being held by militants in Iraq since June.

Still, U.S. officials say Turkey, while avoiding public statements that could put the hostages in danger, has stepped up controls on its border with Syria.

Islamic State fighters, backed by tanks and artillery, have pushed north in the past 24 hours, according to the head of the U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Islamic State Belt

The 21 villages around the town of Ayn al-Arab near the Turkish border were seized following clashes that began on Sept. 16 between the militant group and the Kurdish force known as the People's Protection Units, Rami Abdurrahman said by phone.

Should Ayn al-Arab and additional Kurdish villages fall, Islamic State would be in control of a belt of territory along the border with Turkey, Abdurrahman said. He said civilians were fleeing because they fear Islamic State will commit massacres if the town falls.

Turkey is currently home to around 1.5 million refugees from the fighting in Iraq and Syria.

There were unconfirmed reports yesterday that Turkey was considering a buffer zone within Syria. Davutoglu's government is expected to renew a mandate to deploy Turkish troops in Syria and Iraq if needed next month in parliament, Yeni Safak newspaper said today, without citing anyone.

--With assistance from Ali Berat Meric in Ankara.

To contact the reporter on this story: Selcan Hacaoglu in Ankara at shacaoglubloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alaa Shahine at asalhabloomberg.net Jack Fairweather, Andrew J. Barden