Kerry: U.S. told Turkey arms drop to Syrian Kurds 'momentary' response to crisis

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States told Turkey that a U.S. military air-drop of arms to Syrian Kurds battling Islamic State near the Syrian town of Kobani was a response to a crisis situation and did not represent a change in U.S. policy, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Monday. "We talked with Turkish authorities - I did, the president did, to make it very very clear that this is not a shift in policy by the United States. It is crisis moment, an emergency," Kerry told reporters on a visit to Indonesia, adding that it was a "momentary effort." The Turkish government, which views Syrian Kurds with deep suspicion because of their ties to the PKK - a group that waged a decades-long militant campaign for Kurdish rights in Turkey - has turned down requests for it to open a land corridor so Kobani could be resupplied from other Kurdish areas of northern Syria. (Reporting by David Brunnstrom Editing by W Simon)