Turkey trains Kurdish peshmerga forces in fight against Islamic State

Turkish soldiers are training Kurdish peshmerga fighters in northern Iraq and will give similar assistance to a new national army unit in Baghdad as part of the struggle against Islamic State, a senior Turkish official said on Saturday.
Turkish soldiers began special forces training with Kurdish fighters in northern Iraq three weeks ago, peshmerga spokesman Brigadier General Halgurd Hikmat said. The Turkish official said similar assistance would be given to Iraq's National Guard.
"Turkey has already started training peshmerga forces in northern Iraq ... and we have agreed to train and give assistance to the National Guard," the official said.
Turkey, a NATO member with a 1,200 km border with Syria and Iraq, has refused to take a frontline military role in the U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State insurgents, arguing air strikes alone will not bring lasting stability.
It has drawn criticism for letting thousands of foreign fighters cross its borders in its haste to see Syrian President Bashar al-Assad toppled, and for doing little to end the Islamic State siege of the Syrian border town of Kobani, a battle that has raged for months within sight of Turkish military positions.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/11/22/us-mideast-crisis-turkey-iraq-idUSKCN0J60B720141122