Turkey refuses US permission for combat missions against ISIS

[Ichingcarpenter]

Agence France Presse
ANKARA: Turkey will refuse to allow a US-led coalition to attack jihadists in neighbouring Iraq and Syria from its air bases, nor will it take part in combat operations against militants, a government official told AFP Thursday.

" Turkey will not be involved in any armed operation but will entirely concentrate on humanitarian operations," the official said on condition of anonymity.

The decision echoes the country's refusal to allow the US to station 60,000 troops in Turkey in 2003 to invade Iraq from the north, which triggered a crisis between the two allies.

Ankara then also refused Washington permission to use its air bases to attack Saddam Hussein's regime.

Turkey has come under fire by some critics for indirectly encouraging the formation of ISIS because of its support of Islamist opponents of Syrian President Bashar Assad, and its loose control of its borders.



Read more: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2014/Sep-11/270333-turkey-refuses-us-permission-for-combat-missions-against-isis-official.ashx#ixzz3D0VpdBVG
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[morningfog]

1. Some coalition we have!

[atreides1]

3. More then that

Turkey is a member of NATO...

Maybe the US can use Greek airbases instead?

[morningfog]

4. I don't think Greece has join the coalition in this war of aggression.

It is telling that the coalition member closest to the fight is not willing to engage militarily.

[GeorgeGist]

2. Great coalition!

[justabob]

5. FWIW

I happened to catch the speech last night on Al Jazeera, and caught some of the pre speech commentary. The subject of possible coalition members came up and they discussed the various pros and cons for the countries in the region joining. Turkey was one that there were a lot of questions about. Turkey has 50 citizens, IIRC, being held hostage by ISIS and that would make their participation problematic.

[PearliePoo2]

7. Yes, you are correct.

Here's a snip from the dailystar.com:

After a lightning advance, ISIS militants now control swathes of Iraq and much of northern Syria along the Turkish border.

Turkey now sees itself a victim of ISIS with Islamist militants holding 49 Turks hostage, including diplomats and children, abducted from the Turkish consulate in Mosul in Iraq on June 11.

Ankara is therefore reluctant to take a stronger role in the coalition against ISIS militants in apparent fear of aggravating the hostage situation.

"Our hands and arms are tied because of the hostages," the official told AFP.

[Bragi]

12. Terrorism works! /nt

[sub.theory]

6. No Surprise

Turkey's been actively aiding ISIS for months. I'm astonished at how once secular Turkey has drastically shifted to Islamist. That's sort of the Middle East writ large over the past decade, though.

Plus, the Kurds are fighting ISIS, so there's no way the Turks are getting behind a coalition to defeat them. Because Kurds.

[geek tragedy]

10. Turkey's institutions are now more in line with the people.

The military especially has always been more secular than the voting public.

[geek tragedy]

8. Turkey has been a de facto supporter of ISIL for a while, for a number of reasons.

Most prominent being Turks being held hostage, and the fact that they have two enemies in common--Assad and the Kurds.

That,and Edrogan is an Islamist nutter himself.

Funny to think that membership in the EU was once seriously considered.

[Bosonic]

9. Not that surprising

They may have grown bigger than they initially envisaged, but Turkey has been instrumental in helping ISIS establish itself in Syria by being a focal point for organization/meetings/fund raising and a transit border for foreign fighters.

They've even got an ISIS Gift Shop

[CJCRANE]

11. This season, black is the new...

...um, black.