Turkey's Erdogan says 200 Iraqi Kurdish fighters to enter Kobani

RIGA, Oct 23 (Reuters) - Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday he had been informed that agreement was reached for 200 Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga fighters to pass through Turkey to help defend the Syrian border town of Kobani against Islamic State militants.

Erdogan was speaking at a news conference in the Latvian capital Riga after Iraqi Kurdish lawmakers on Wednesday approved a plan to send the fighters, marking the semi-autonomous region's first military foray into Syria's war.