Germany is prepared to bend its restrictive policies on weapons exports and arm Kurdish fighters battling Islamic State militants in northern Iraq, Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said on Wednesday.
The comments to German public broadcaster ZDF are the strongest yet by a senior German official and represent a wholesale shift in Berlin's stance since the beginning of the week. On Monday Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman said Germany was committed to upholding its position of not sending arms to conflict zones.
"We cannot just leave Kurdistan on its own and watch as people are slaughtered there," said Steinmeier, a Social Democrat (SPD) whose party shares power with Merkel's conservatives.