Turkey opens door for anti-IS operation

Ankara, Sep 24 (IANS/EFE) Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has announced the possibility of military intervention by his country against the Islamic State (IS) Sunni radical organisation.

Erdogan Tuesday applauded the offensive launched the day before by a US-led coalition on the IS in Syria and said Turkey studied assuming a role that included "both military and political measures" to face the jihadis.

Erdogan promised from New York, where he is participating in the UN General Assembly, that his country would do its part.

Several Turkish newspapers Wednesday reported that Turkey would join the coalition of the US and several Arab countries which Monday began to bomb the positions of the jihadis in Syria.

Some sections of the media even picked up unconfirmed reports that aircraft from Turkish territory were involved in the attacks.

However, Turkish government sources denied that neither Turkish airspace nor American bases in this country had been used in the attacks on the IS.

Turkey had so far maintained an ambiguous position on the US-led alliance against the IS because of the kidnapping of 46 of its citizens in the hands of the radical group, who were recently released.

Ankara has argued that, in any case, a Turkish military intervention would depend on the plans of the US in Syria, Deputy Prime Minister Yalcin Akdogan told the daily Cumhuriyet.

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Tuesday the government would have to ask parliament for permission to conduct military operations in Syria and Iraq.

The government may raise the issue Oct 1.

Turkey, which now hosts 1.5 million Syrian refugees, has received some 150,000 Syrian Kurds fleeing the advance of the jihadis in recent days.

Authorities fear that the upsurge in fighting would cause the arrival of more refugees.

--IANS/EFE

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