ISTANBUL // Turkey will fight against ISIL and other terrorist groups in the region but will stick to its aim of seeing Syrian dictator Bashar Al Assad removed from power, Turkish president Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday .
The advance of ISIL insurgents to within sight of the Turkish army on the Syrian border has piled pressure on Ankara to play a greater role in the US-led coalition carrying out airstrikes against the insurgents in Syria and Iraq.
“We will fight effectively against both [ISIL] and all other terrorist organisations within the region; this will always be our priority,” Mr Erdogan told the parliament.
“We will [also] continue to prioritise our aim to remove the Syrian regime, to help protect the territorial integrity of Syria and to encourage a constitutional, parliamentary government system which embraces all [of its] citizens.”
Turkey shares a 1,200km border with Iraq and Syria and is already struggling with 1.5 million refugees from the Syrian war alone.
It deployed tanks and armoured vehicles on the border with Syria this week as fighting intensified and the government has sent a proposal to parliament that would extend its powers to authorise cross-border military incursions.
But it fears that US-led airstrikes, if not accompanied by a broader political strategy, could strengthen Mr Al Assad and bolster Kurdish militants allied to Kurds in Turkey who have fought for three decades for greater autonomy.
The threat of confrontation has increased tension across Turkey. In recent days used tear gas shells and broken glass by the Istanbul University gates in recent days serves as a sharp reminder of the anxiety Turkey feels over ISIL on its border as parliamentarians on Thursday consider direct military action against what Turkish leaders call a barbaric threat and an affront to Islam.
Since last week, one of Turkey’s oldest institutions, Istanbul University, has witnessed demonstrations against ISIL brutality. Each day these have been matched by violent counter-protests led by a masked gang that claims to be a “Muslim youth organisation”. The gang hurled stones and bottles, and wielded sticks studded with nails. Both sides have been dispersed by Istanbul police tear gas.
“They said our banners were a curse to Islam. They gave us 15 minutes to end our protest, then returned with a group to beat us,” students said after the attacks.
The motions being considered in parliament today include authorising the Turkish army to conduct cross-border operations into Syria and Iraq, allowing foreign forces to use Turkish military bases and finally, securing a no-fly zone over Syrian airspace. In recent years, Turkish foreign policy has evolved significantly with greater proactive economic and political engagement across the region.
However, as ISIL has risen in the past year, Nato member Turkey has resisted leading, or even joining, the US collation against ISIL, fearing that the militant group would retaliate.
Additionally, until their release last month, 49 of its diplomatic personnel in the Iraqi city of Mosul were held hostage by ISIL for 101 days.
The Kurdish issue also hangs over the debate. A politically polarised society, Turkey tends to view ISIL through existing policy tensions, especially the Kurdish issue. This has ignited traditional political divisions and confuses what should be a pretty straightforward debate about the brutality of ISIL and how to address it.
For the past 16 months, Turkey’s significant Kurdish minority has been calm as a result of a ceasefire with the separatist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), and the prospect of a peace process. However, the recent reluctance of Turkey to extend support to Kurdish groups fighting ISIL in the besieged Syrian border town of Kobani has complicated matters.
In the big picture, Turkey has often been hesitant to engage militarily across the Middle East because of its proximity. “Over the last 20 years Iraqi bills [foreign military engagement authorisation] have always been a source of conflict in Turkish foreign policy. The US has always wanted Turkey’s cooperation in Middle Eastern conflicts, whereas the domestic and military concerns have inhibited Turkey from behaving in such a free-handed way,” leading columnist Murat Yetkin wrote in Tuesday’s Radikal newspaper.
Last week, when he was in New York for the United Nations General Assembly, Mr Erdogan began to change his stance on intervention. Discussing ISIL on US TV with chat host Charlie Rose, he said Turkey must “dry out this swamp”.
Rhetoric since then has evolved quickly and after returning to Turkey, on Sunday Mr Erdogan held his first public address since the release of the Turkish hostages. Regarding engagement with ISIL, he said Turkey “cannot stay out” of the fight.
Turkish public opinion reflects the divided debate. A recent survey by Metropoll, a Turkish polling firm, found that just over half the country supports Turkey joining the coalition against ISIL. Only 1.3 per cent of Turks sympathise with ISIL, the poll also found.
Turks are anxiously awaiting the results of today’s vote in Ankara. Mr Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party, with its parliamentary majority, is likely to pass the measures, despite objections from the main opposition parties.
Things could then move quickly. On Monday, Turkish tanks rumbled to the top of a hill overlooking the chaos of Kobani after stray combat fire there between Kurdish forces and ISIL crossed the border.
* With additional reporting by Reuters
foreign.desk @thenational.ae
