On Oct. 10, UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura warned that if Islamic State (IS) forces take Ayn al-Arab (also known as Kobani), 12,000 Syrian Kurdish civilians trapped by the fighting will “most likely be massacred.”

The UN envoy appealed to Turkey to “allow the flow of volunteers at least and their own equipment to be able to enter the city and contribute to a self-defense operation. And if they can, to support the deterrent actions of the [coalition] through whatever means from their own territory.”

Despite de Mistura’s appeal, and following two days of meetings between John Allen, the US special presidential envoy for the global coalition to counter the Islamic State (IS), and Brett McGurk, deputy assistant secretary of state, with Turkish officials in Ankara, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan offered no assistance to Syrian Kurds in Kobani.

What Turkey did offer was support for the US-led effort to train and equip moderate Syrian rebels. The coalition's access to the Incirlik air base remains an issue. A day after National Security Adviser Susan Rice said that Turkey had approved US use of the Incirlik air base in Turkey for airstrikes against IS, a Turkish official denied this was the case and said talks were ongoing.