>> what we just -- yeah. >> i'm sorry, please. you continue, please, professor. >> reporter: i was going to say with regard to what we just heard from mr. kerry there, i really welcome hearing those sorts of comments. we have had a situation running in west africa for many months now, where we do understand what is required to bring it under control, to reduce the impact of this terrible disease on a population there. and frankly, the -- what has been required has not been provided, and i really welcome hearing such strong words, indications that -- that people need to step up and make available the things that we -- we understand well, that are required and would be able to bring this under control, albeit, it will take some time to do so now. >> professor, it has been very good to hear your thoughts. appreciate you sparing the time

to come on this al jazeera news hour. thank you.

>> the kurdish fighters inside the city, and the president of turkey next door, are both glumly conceding that isil will soon take kobane. why is turkey letting that happen? it's inside story.

>> hello, i'm ray suarez. the he's almostic state of iraq and the levant, isil, has disrupted the long-settled 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 it's happening, why it's happening is all part of the tangled story of friends and enemies in one of the world's 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 don't 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. turkey's president erdogan call for support. >> kobane is about to fall. we ask for three things. one, to a no-fly 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 we'll 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 they're not getting it. they're 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 isn't turkey doing it? >> well thank you very much for having me. i don't 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 doesn't 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' i'm not optimistic that they'll 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 presidenter do want does not want to be cleared at the side line. and the report that we watch , which is he wants a no-fly zone. and he wants the training of the

free syrian army obviously to the point--although it did not say in this report--to be able to get rid of assad. >> is this a moment we're seeing in the first couple of weeks the fault lines , the flits between members of this noontimes coalition? >> certainly i think so. turkey's own regards where it with regards isil, the attacks on turkish soil, and turkey's 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 wasn't reported on in pyt media, but they had reached out to the regime via an intermediatary, and they've 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 they've 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 30-year-old 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 juan's 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. >> we'll be back with more "inside story" after this break. we'll 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. >> you're watching "inside story" on al jazeera america. i'm 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 syria's 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 doesn't--i don't 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 don't see isil engaging in an attack on turkish territory for now.

and maybe that's in terms of who does turkey see in terms of evil between the pyt or isil i'm wondering whether isil can have it it's way in this circumstance. are there things happening that are so dangerous to turkish national interests that they can't necessarily take care of one--awful 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 of--might 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 long-term 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. aths--oats. but when syria came it pulled in, instead of showing an expansive and forward-looking way to use its power, it's 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 don't 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 it's 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 we're 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. >> this sunday, you've witnessed their incredible journey. >> i'm ready to get out man... i'm ready to get out of high school. >> the triumphs, trials and struggles. "on the edge of eighteen". don't 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 wasn't my first choice, but i'm 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. >> now available, the new al jazeea america mobile news app. get our exclusive in depth, reporting when you want it. a global perspective wherever you are. the major headlines in context. mashable says... you'll never miss the latest news >> they will continue looking for survivors... >> the potential for energy production is huge... >> no noise, no clutter, just real reporting. the new al jazeera america mobile app, available for your apple and android mobile device. download it now >> welcome back to inside story. i'm 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, it's 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 terms--i 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 this--this 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 it's 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. they've very close to the iraqi

regional the presiden kurdistan region and iraq, they don't have that much base. but the kurds are fragmented. they don't get support from iraqi kurds, particular ly the got which is led b , and has very strong ties to turkey. and they don't 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, we're 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 it's been trying to portray washington and it's 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. it's 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. that's going to be very difficult, that's going to create tensions. those tensions, i'm afraid, are going to make it difficult for turkey to achieve it's 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, i'm ray suarez. >> this is coalition air attacks against isil. fighters yet on the border town of kobani. ♪ you're with us here on al jazeera, good to have your company. i'm david foster with the world's top news story. plus a liberia man diagnosed with ebola in the u.s. state of texas has died. the kenyan president appears before the international criminal court to face charges of crimes against humanity. e