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Turkey Enters the War Against the Islamic State | Foreign Policy

Alarmed by the continued spread of the Islamic State, Turkey will bow to a long-standing American request and allow the United States to fly bombing missions against the militants from one of its key air bases, a move that effectively thrusts Ankara into a war it has long sought to avoid. Under the deal, manned…

Alarmed by the continued spread of the Islamic State, Turkey will bow to a long-standing American request and allow the United States to fly bombing missions against the militants from one of its key air bases, a move that effectively thrusts Ankara into a war it has long sought to avoid.

Under the deal, manned and unmanned U.S. aircraft will be permitted to use the Incirlik air base in southern Turkey to launch strikes against the Islamic State, a change that will open the door to an expansion of the U.S.-led air war in Syria and Iraq.

After months of negotiations, the deal was sealed in a phone call between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and President Barack Obama on Wednesday, U.S. officials said.

via Turkey Enters the War Against the Islamic State | Foreign Policy.

Yes, this is something of a diplomatic victory for the Obama administration. Or at least, they’ll take credit for it.

But the real reason Turkey has accepted the deal is the suicide bomb attack that killed 32 earlier this week.

Turkey has been willing to watch the fight from the sidelines as long as it was left alone. But that attack, and a recent firefight on the border show Turkey that while they may not be interested in fighting, the ISIS is. And so their hand has been forced.

Of course, if Turkey was serious, their large, relatively well equipped army would begin ground operations. But since we’re not serious, why should Turkey be?

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  1. SFC Dunlap 173d RVN

    Incirlik AB has been a long dividend paying acquisition.

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  2. HalfEmpty

    The sound you hear are scales falling, do not be alarmed.

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  3. KenH

    Dont cheer quite yet, they are also hitting the Kurds in N Iraq

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  4. TrT

    Turkey is walking a dangerous line. The legacy of the Ata Turk is all but extinguished.
    Erdogan has fanned the flames of Islam and now faces a firestorm he can barely control.

    Yes, he could deploy a multi division force in to Syria.
    But how many of those soldiers would be particularly interested in fighting ISIS and how many would view them as “brothers”.
    How many of those willing to fight have any sort of experience in fighting this sort of war, lets face it internal security against the PKK and insurgency war against ISIS are pretty different.

    Nearly 15 years in Afghanistan and the US has managed very little, beyond toppling their overt presence obviously, but covertly they just kept on ticking.

    How would an “ISIS free zone” even work? There are dozens, more even, of armed groups, some limited to a single village, others covering significant portions of nations, some small groups affiliated with bigger groups, all wearing a similar palette of local civilian clothing, driving similar unmarked trucks and armed with a similar mix of rifles, rockets, machine guns and mortars, sounds like blue on blue will be a common occurrence.

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