Turkey

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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been under international criticism for preventing heavy weapons or forces to use his territory to help Kurds in Kobani. Allowing peshmerga fighters to cross into Syria appears to be the product of a compromise, a former Turkish diplomat says.

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Turkish soldiers patrol the gate of a staging area where Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga fighters are stationed near the Turkey-Syria border, across from the Syrian town of Kobani. (Associated Press)

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Turkish officials on Monday denied the existence of a deal to allow U.S.-led forces battling the Islamic State to conduct operations from bases inside Turkey, such as Incirlik. This made for an awkward situation for National Security Adviser Susan E. Rice, who announced such a cooperation ahead of an international strategy session. (associated press)

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Turkish soldiers on a tank hold their position on a hilltop on the outskirts of Suruc, at the Turkey-Syria border, overlooking Kobani, Syria, during fighting between Syrian Kurds and the militants of Islamic State group, Thursday, Oct. 9, 2014.

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Turkish soldiers on a tank hold their position on a hilltop on the outskirts of Suruc, at the Turkey-Syria border, overlooking Kobani, Syria, during fighting between Syrian Kurds and the militants of Islamic State group, Thursday, Oct. 9, 2014. The fighting over Kobani has brought Syria's civil war yet again to Turkey's doorstep and allies have tried to press Ankara to take a more robust role in the U.S.-led coalition to fight the Islamic State group. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)

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An ambitious pipeline project linking reservoirs in Turkey to the parched, isolated Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus is on track to bring much needed drinking water to the island by year's end.

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Desperation: A Turkish soldier stands guard as several hundred Syrian refugees wait to cross the border. Turkey opened its border Saturday to allow in up to 60,000 people who massed on the Turkish-Syrian border, fleeing the Islamic militants' advance. (Associated Press)

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Several thousand Syrians, mostly Kurds, crossed into Turkey seeking refuge from Islamic State militants who have barreled through dozens of Kurdish villages in northern Syria. The Obama plan calls for local fighters to counter the terror group on the ground. (associated press)

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Freed Turkish hostages arrive at the airport in Ankara, Turkey, Saturday, Sept. 20, 2014. Dozens of Turkish hostages seized by Islamic militants in Iraq three months ago were freed and safely returned to Turkey on Saturday ending Turkey’s most serious hostage crisis. The 49 hostages were captured from the Turkish Consulate in Mosul, Iraq on June 11, when the Islamic State group overran the city in its surge to seize large swaths of Iraq and Syria. (AP Photo)

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In this Friday, Sept. 12, 2014 photo, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry reacts as he listens to his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu in Ankara, Turkey. Kerry is in Ankara to press Turkey to join an international coalition against the Islamic State. (AP Photo/Burhan Ozbilici)

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Displaced Iraqis from the Yazidi community gather at a park near the Turkey-Iraq border at the Ibrahim al-Khalil crossing, as they try to cross to Turkey, in Zakho, 300 miles (475 kilometers) northwest of Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, Aug. 15, 2014. The European Union on Friday forged a unified response to the rapid advance of Islamic militants in Iraq and the resulting refugee crisis, allowing direct arms deliveries to Kurdish fighters battling the Sunni insurgents, while several EU nations pledged more humanitarian aid. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed)