A US-led global coalition has been launching nearly ineffective airstrikes against ISIL positions in Iraq and Syria since September 2014.
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The decree signed by the cabinet authorises the implementation of an agreement between Turkey and the United States on the base that was thrashed out during a visit to Ankara by US presidential envoy John Allen earlier this month. This has already been brought to the attention of U.S. authorities. No Fly Zones are a tool in the imperialist arsenal, as we saw when the U.S. and North Atlantic Treaty Organisation imposed the No Fly Zone on Libya in 2011.
The meeting will be held under Article 4 of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation treating entitling member states to seek an emergency meeting when they consider their “territorial integrity, political independence or security” to be in jeopardy.
“NATO allies follow developments very closely and stand in solidarity with Turkey“, Stoltenberg said.
The area would then be controlled by moderate Syrian rebels and act as a “safe zone” for Syrians displaced by ISIS and regime forces.
At a Pentagon briefing, Davis said that Defense Secretary Ashton Carter was reviewing the options that came with Turkey’s surprise announcement last week permitting the U.S.to use the Air Force base at Incirlik, Turkey, for strikes against ISIS in Syria, but decisions were weeks away. Islamic State militants have taken advantage of a more the chaos to seize swathes of territory in Syria and Iraq and declare a caliphate. Also, the YPG and an activist group said Turkish troops had shelled the Syrian border village of Til Findire, targeting Kurdish fighters and hitting one of their vehicles on Sunday night.
Turkish police on Monday has detained 15 ISIS-linked suspects in an operation carried out in Ankara. And despite the U.S. and Turkeys shared interests in fighting the Islamic State, the Turks have also prioritized defeating Assad.
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The plans would entail American aircraft, Syrian rebels and Turkish forces working together to sweep ISIS from a 60-mile long strip of northern Syria along the Turkish border, according to The New York Times.
