NATO affirms ‘strong solidarity’ with Turkey against IS

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Tuesday that the military alliance stood firmly by key member Turkey in the face of “terrible acts of terror” and instability along its southern border.

“NATO is following developments very closely and we stand in strong solidarity with our ally Turkey,” Stoltenberg said at the opening of an emergency meeting of all 28 member states requested by Ankara.

The rare emergency meeting at NATO headquarters is only the fifth of its kind since the US-led political and military alliance was founded 66 years ago. The NATO treaty empowers member states to seek emergency consultations if they deem their territorial integrity, political independence or security to be under threat.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey is asking NATO to be prepared to help his country as it battles Islamic State militants in Syria and Kurdish rebels in Iraq.

Speaking at a news conference Tuesday before leaving for China, Erdogan also said it was impossible to advance a peace process with the Kurds as attacks on Turkey continue.

Erdogan reiterated that Turkish and US officials were discussing the creation of a safe zone near Turkey’s border with Syria, which would be cleared of the IS group’s presence and turned into a secure area for Syrian refugees to return.

Turkey and the United States have agreed on the outlines of a plan to rout the Islamic State group from the territory — a plan that opens the possibility of a safe haven for tens of thousands of displaced Syrians but one that also sets up a potential conflict with US-backed Syrian Kurdish forces in the area.

The move further embroils Turkey in Syria’s civil war, and also catapults it into a front-line position in the global war against IS.

A senior Obama administration official said Monday that US discussions with Turkey about an IS-free zone focused on a 68-mile stretch still under IS control. The US has been conducting airstrikes there, which will accelerate now that the US can launch strikes from Turkish soil, the official said.

No agreement between Turkey and the US has yet been finalized, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity under regulations.

While details of the buffer zone plan have yet to be announced, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Ankara and Washington have no intention of sending ground troops into Syria but wanted to see Syria’s moderate opposition forces replace IS near the Turkish border.

“Moderate forces like the Free Syrian Army will be strengthened, a structure will be created so that they can take control of areas freed from ISIL, air cover will be provided. It would be impossible for them to take control of the area without it,” Davutoglu told Turkey’s A Haber television. ISIL is an alternate acronym for the Islamic State group.

The discussions came amid a major tactical shift in Turkey’s approach to IS. After months of reluctance, Turkish warplanes started striking militant targets in Syria last week, and allowed the US to launch its own strikes from Turkey’s strategically located Incirlik Air Base.