And the levant, isil, has disrupted the longsettled map of the middle east. The Guerrilla Force trying to establish what it callings the Islamic State is fighting the government of syria, the u. N. Air force and kurdish in syria, and now a new alliance in middle east forces in iraq. With all that firepower aimed at them, isil is still on the verge of taking a major town on the border between syria and turkey. How its happening, why its happening is all part of the tangled story of friends and enemies in one of the worlds most complicated neighborhoods. Islamic state in iraq and the levant or isil, have bee sieged the syrian town of kobane for weeks. The reports from the kurdish fighters defending it say that 9,000 have pushed the defense. So close that the turkish troops have been wearily watching but have not yet engaged in the fight. You see what we go through. They behead our children and set our houses ablaze. They play dirty games on kurds. Ten people i knew were killed right in front of my eyes. They hang the bodies on poles and dont remove them for at least three days. The Kurdish Militia defending the town appeared to be outgunned by the Islamic State, and the heavy weapons it captured by syria and iraq despite u. S. Airstrikes. Turkeys president erdogan call for support. Kobane is about to fall. We ask for three things. One, to a nofly zone to be created. And two, a secure zone parallel to the region to be declared, and moderate opposition in syria and iraq to be trained and equipped. Reporter nato has pledged to defend turkey if the fighting spills over. The main responsibility is to protect all allied countries, and turkish should know that well thereby if there is spillover and attacks on turkey as a consequence of the violence in syria. Reporter in recent weeks a deluge of refugees have spilled into turkey, fleeing the syrian conflict and the onslaught of isil forces. Meanwhile, isil transverses the border for funds to build and resupply. Plus for foreign fighters looking to join the ranks turkey is a major land bridge. All of this puts turkey, long a friend of various arab capitols as well as a member of nato caught in a position of threats internal and external , the government is wary to join the fight against isil. Fighting isil means it was italy supporting the kurds. Means tacitly fighting the kurds. The turks have said they want a stated goal to oust the assad government. The battle for kobane this time on the program. The forces need help and theyre not getting it. Theyre not getting it even as the International Force begins to pound the extremist army. To our guests. Turkey has the second biggest army in nato, taking care of that force just on the boards could probably be done quickly and without working up a big sweat. Why isnt turkey doing it . Well thank you very much for having me. I dont think turkey is doing it for its own strategic interest and agenda, while the interest of the u. S. Led coalition against isil is to get rid of isil, and to defeat isil. The interest and agenda of turkey is obviously to under mind gains. It doesnt converge with the interest of international community, the Coalition Led by the u. S. Against isil. First, do you agree with that analysis, and second, can turkey do both of those things. Both move against syria, and keep an eye on surging kurdish nationalisms. I agree on the divergence in aims between washington and anakra. Turkey has committed itself to fighting isis, but said it also wants to fight other terrorist groups. Including the pkk, which turkey has been fighting for 30 years, and which did has designated as a terrorist organization. Beyond that the ouster of assad from damascus, which clearly is not the main priority for washington or other member s as well. Frankly, i im not optimistic that theyll be able to agree on the aims and means of the methods and means of fighting against isis. Which means what, over the long haul turkey, one of the biggest powers in the region remains sidelined in this fight . No, it is clear that president er do want does not want to be cleared at the side line. And the report that we watch , which is he wants a nofly zone. And he wants the training of the Free Syrian Army obviously to the pointalthough it did not say in this reportto be able to get rid of assad. Is this a moment were seeing in the first couple of weeks the fault lines , the flits between members of this noontimes coalition . Certainly i think so. Turkeys own regards where it with regards isil, the attacks on turkish soil, and turkeys approach to that since is to back some of these rebel groups like the Syrian Revolutionary front. But at the same time there is this commitment to overthrowing the assad regime, and one condition that turkey has impo imposed is that there should be no cooperation whatsoever with the assad regime. But i actually think they would want to drop links with the regime entirely. The very first airstrikes struck kobane some weeks ago in attempt to fend off imis the work of the regime. It wasnt reported on in pyt media, but they had reached out to the regime via an intermediatary, and theyve reached out to him to get the regimes to call airstrikes. When that was not effective there was an outreach towards the west. But despite that , you know, further out to the east you see systems between the pyt and the regime, and for turkey that is completely unacceptable, and so i think there is too much mutual distrust to see the unity and considered action against isil. It would be considered a set back if isil took kobane . To siege literally overnight in over an hour, the fact that theyve chosen to do so does not perceive kobane to be contradict contradictive interest. The end of the Peace Process with the pkk. For many years they have been involved in negotiations with the leader of the pkk with the goal of ending the 30yearold war between the pkk and the turkish army. It is a notable aim, and the achievement would be a feather inne innefeatherrerfeather feather rer do juans cap. The iraqi kurds and the peshmerga in iraq. And the pyt, and the middle force, pyg and the turkish kurds are all involved in a sub plot to the western coalitions attempt to get rid of isis, and which is also looking for boots on the ground. Obviously the peshmerga in iraq has formed a very important component of that. Thin we come back to what we are talking about before. Whether turkey will come up to the Ground Forces to deal with this issue because because erdogan, if i may, listed the conditions that were necessary. Well be back with more inside story after this break. Well continue our dig why isil why supposedly under heavy pressure from the Coalition Led by the u. S. May be o on the verge of a big victory. Stay with us. Kentucky, a state thats hurting economically. When the mines shut down it affects other businesses too you know, it hurts everything. Some say its time for a change. Mitch has been in there so long. While others want to stay the course. All the way mitch you know exactly what these people needs in kentucky. Communities trying to cope. What does the future hold . The economy, the struggling coal industry and healthcare are all impacting their vote. America votes 2014 fed up in kentucky. All this week. Only on al jazeera america. This sunday, youve witnessed their incredible journey. Im ready to get out man. Im ready to get out of high school. The triumphs, trials and struggles. On the edge of eighteen. Dont miss the class reunion. Were the right paths chosen . It was absolutely devastating. Have family wounds begun to heal . Our relationship still is harsh. Are their dreams coming true . It wasnt my first choice, but im glad i made a choice. The edge of eighteen class reunion. Immediately after the final episode. Sunday, 10 00 eastern. Only on al jazeera america. Youre watching inside story on al jazeera america. Im ray suarez. Turkey is the unique player in the middle east. The former colonial power, muslim but not arab. Rich and democratic and a nato member. Will turkey have to be involved in syrias war whether it wants to be or not, and will it be able to dictate the terms under which it is involved. Are events moving in such a way that turkey will be dragged in whether it gets everything president erdogan wants or not . I think the real trigger for ground intervention would have to be an isil attack on turkish territory. And for me in my view if this doesnti dont think isil has this in mind. For isil turkey is still valuable as a source of muggled in goods, which they can use for direction and the running of their state across iraq and syria. And secondly turkey is also a blackpool market area for smuggled oil. And so i think that would have to be the trigger under which turkey would intervene directly with a ground force. But i dont see isil engaging in an attack on turkish territory for now. And maybe thats in terms of who does turkey see in terms of evil between the pyt or isil im wondering whether isil can have it its way in this circumstance. Are there things happening that are so dangerous to Turkish National interests that they cant necessarily take care of oneawful these things at once. Isil, assad, and their kurdish enemies on the syrian side of the border. Right, well, you know, i think isil is in the long run a strategic threat to all of the Regional National players, including turkey. Isil, for the time being, but history has shown us and very recent history when isil feels it is under attack, that it will retaliate, and it will retaliate in force, and i think isil has also some kind ofmight have some kind of sleeping cells in turkey and maybe some sympathetic groups. So in that sense i think it would not be in the longterm interest of turkey not to reach an agreement with other players in the region, iran, u. S. Other players to have an agreement whereby different interests and agendas are accommodated without a skewed arrangement. I think also turkey would be at some point a next target for isil. During the whole period of the arab spring, and then as syria began to unravel turkey, instead of being the sort of swaggering and successful country it was at the beginning of the arab spring where erdogan toured a lot of capitols in the mediterranean, talked about how a country could be democratic and islamic and it looked like turkey was really feeling its oaths. Athsoats. But when syria came it pulled in, instead of showing an expansive and forwardlooking way to use its power, its wealth, and influence. Why this reluctance . Turkey was put toward as a model for the democratic transition that the arab spring has seemed to usher in. 2 went bad in many ways that we dont have time to go into. Turkey was seen as the model. As the inspiration. Now in syria is where that model or inspiration idea came to an end. What happened was that assad resisted. The turkish advised for him to go down the path that egypt had gone. And instead used brute force against his opponents. And then the turkish government, mr. Erdogan, committed to help the opposition against him. Instead of relying on the idea of turkey as a model, as an inspiration, it became the supporter of heart force. In essence denying the essence of what the arab spring promised. Now we have a situation where there relationships between a number of countries in the middle east have gone bad. The gulf states are not on the best terms with mr. Erdogan. And turkey has difficult relations with the Central Government of iraq. Here we are in the scene today is turkey forfeiting its future influence in the deliberations over how the whole region gets settled by hanging back in the way that it is . Well, this is precisely the question that the government ought to be grappling with, instead of whether it should or should not get involved in this war. In essence were discussing washington and the mod dalties in which turkey may compensate to put Ground Forces in. But the question we should be looking at is whether turkey can, indeed, be the model and inspiration and the Guiding Light for these countries, and the at the moment the answer is no. Stay with us, after this short break when we return we have some hard questions whether it will act like the Regional Power it is becoming. Stay with us. Hundreds of days in detention. Al jazeera rejects all the charges and demands immediate release. Thousands calling for their freedom. Its a clear violation of their human rights. We have strongly urged the government to release those journalists. Journalism is not a crime. Welcome back to inside story. Im ray suarez. Turkey, isil and the war on syria on this program. The turks have been cagey about their role and any isil coalition, yet the war is raging right on the border. Is the country ready to step on the large role of circumstances it has been asked to play. Our guests , is turkey staying out of it so far . This may not be the case always, but staying out of it so far making it harder for countries to share its desire to bring down the assad government, like the united states. Well, its debatable. I think the u. S. Is still committed to this idea of change through a political statement and putting pressure on the assad regime, and that, of course, is a divergence with turkey. Now, i actually think, yes, in termsi mean, as far as ground intervention goes, if there is a question of ground troops, then turkey, having turkey on the ground would be best in encounter isil. But thisthis reluctance to get involved in that way, i think it does ultimately this helps isil at least for now. What happens to the kurds when you have autonomous kurdish region inside iraq that looks like its going to remain iraq for some time to come. When we have a kurdish challenge inside turkey, is turkey not taking an active role on this conflict, and leaving it less able to settling the role in the process. Are right, as far as kurds are concerned. Kurds are fragmented more than ever. Kurds in iraq are fragmented. Kurds in turkey are not fragmented, and kurds, the pyd, are the strongest groups. Theyve very close to the iraqi regional the presiden kurdistan region and iraq, they dont have that much base. But the kurds are fragmented. They dont get support from iraqi kurds, particular ly the got which is led b , and has very strong ties to turkey. And they dont get support from the west, obviously. Not at least from the air. So the syrian kurds are caught between different recent players, and that makes their position very, very difficult. And just before coming to this program. Again, were dealing with turkey with many interests, many things it wants to achieve, but so far unable to pull any of them off. What do you see happening in the next year, two years . Looking at the situation from one point of view. For three years its been trying to portray washington and its western allies against assad. They resisted. Now washington and the other western capitols are interested in getting involved in syria, but not against assad, but against isil. Now this creates a very difficult situation for turkey. Its looking for ways to exploit this western desire to get involved in syria, perhaps to get them reengaged towards what it considers to be the common goal of getting assad. Thats going to be very difficult, thats going to create tensions. Those tensions, im afraid, are going to make it difficult for turkey to achieve its own aims. Being with us. That brings us to the ends of this edition of inside story. Make sure you join us next time. In washington, im ray suarez. On america tonight how to stop the spread. First line responders wonder if they have enough information to identify ebola. The citys u. S. Officials identified as the key entry point for ebola, and the key questions being asked now to head off the contagion. Also fighting down the home stretch. In a key state the challenger works to tie the incumbent to the president s health care