Deal on buffer area adds pressure on UK parliament to allow British military involvement in Syria and raises questions about Kurdish peace process
After several days of prevarication, US officials have confirmed the Obama administration’s agreement to Turkish demands to set up a coalition-protected “safe zone” inside northern Syria in return for permitting US aircraft to use Turkey’s military bases to attack Islamic State.
NATO Security General Jens Stoltenberg has called an emergency meeting to discuss security tomorrow (Tuesday 28 July) at the request of Turkey after last week’s suicide bombing and Turkish security operations against Islamic State and PKK Kurdish militants.
The Turkish army has been carrying out air strikes against the IS in Syria and the banned Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK) in northern Iraq since Friday. At Ankara’s behest Nato will convene to discuss the situation on Tuesday. Commentators call for the military alliance to adopt a clear stance vis-à-vis its member Turkey and see Turkish domestic politics behind the attacks.
Governments with declining electoral success may use adventurous foreign policy choices or make radical shifts in their foreign policies to gain re-election.
Tanks fire on the border village of Zur Maghar overnight, reportedly wounding four fighters, after Turkish air strikes against Kurdish forces in Iraq
There are increasing indications that IS fighters are behind the suicide bomb attack in Suruç, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said on Tuesday. Ankara must finally join forces with the Kurds against the IS, some commentators urge. Others praise the AKP government’s efforts against IS terror.
When US special forces raided the compound of an Islamic State leader in eastern Syria in May, they made sure not to tell the neighbours. The target of that raid, the first of its kind since US jets returned to the skies over Iraq last August, was
Press freedom groups register deep concern at firing of respected journalist
Press freedom organisations have taken up the case of Turkish newspaper columnist Kadri Gürsel who was fired over a tweet critical of the country’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.