Turkey has its own good reasons for not intervening in Kobane

Tristan Dunning Honorary Research Fellow in the School of History, Philosophy, Religion and Classics at The University of Queensland As the Kurdish town of Kobane continues to defy Islamic State (IS) forces, many pundits have condemned Turkey's unwillingness to help the People's Protection Units ( YPG) keep the forces of "evil" at bay. In a dichotomy characteristic of mainstream reporting on the Middle East, the Kurds, one of the region's perennial victims, have largely been cast as the "good guys". The YPG and PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party) lived up to that image by helping to rescue Yazidis trapped on Mount Sinjar. Turkey, in possession of NATO's second-largest army, has been thrown in with the "bad guys". This perception was heightened when protests in Kurdish majority areas of Turkey against government inaction resulted in more than 40 deaths. But is this "bad guy" label a fair representation of Turkey's reluctance to intervene in Kobane? The Turkish government has valid reasons not to become embroiled in the defence of Kobane against IS. It would be a breach of Syrian sovereignty and international law.