ISISGame changer: Turkey allows U.S. to use of Incirlik air base for attacks on ISIS
In a dramatic policy change, Turkey has agreed to allow the U.S. military to launch strikes against the Islamic State from the Incirlik air base near the Syrian border. The move — one senior U.S. official described it as a “game changer” — will make coalition airstrikes more effective because jets would reach their targets in Syria more quickly upon receiving actionable intelligence. The move will also draw Turkey deeper into the war in Syria. Turkey appears to have abandoned its studied ambivalence toward IS. Until this week, Turkey prioritized the removal of Bashar al-Assad and its own volatile relations with the Kurds, rather than join in the effort to defeat ISIS, but the Incirlik agreement indicates a significant change in Turkish priorities.
In a dramatic policy change, Turkey has agreed to allow the U.S. military to launch strikes against the Islamic State from the Incirlik air base near the Syrian border. The move will make coalition airstrikes more effective because jets would reach their targets in Syria more quickly upon receiving actionable intelligence. The move will also draw Turkey deeper into the war in Syria.
President Barack Obama and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke on the phone on Wednesday to put the final touches on the deal.
The last two days saw and sharp escalation in Turkish actions against ISIS. Today (Friday), Turkish planes have, for the first time, carried out air strikes against Islamic State (IS) targets in Syria. Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said the air strikes, on three IS positions, “completely destroyed” their targets.
In the early hours of Friday, Turkish police launched a series of raids against IS and Kurdish militants and sympathizers across the country, arresting 297 people.
On Thursday, Turkish forces exchanged fire with IS fighters near the Syrian border. One Turkish soldier was killed.
Turkey and the United States have been negotiating for months over U.S. use of Incirlik and other bases in Turkey, but the Turks conditioned such use on the coalition using airstrikes not only against ISIS, but also against the forces of President Bashar Assad. Turkey’s is one of Assad’s fiercest enemies – the pro-Kurdish independence PKK groups was protected by Hafez Assad, Bashar’s father, and had its headquarters in Damascus until the late 1990s. One reason Turkey was looking the other way while thousands of foreign fighters were crossing Turkish territory to join ISIS was the Turkish belief that in the absence of a coalition plan to attack Assad, ISIS should be allowed to strengthen itself so it could do so.
Recent deadly attacks by ISIS inside Turkey, and the defeat of Erdogan’s party in the recent parliamentary election, caused the Turkish government to reassess its objection to U.S. use of Turkish airbases.
U.S. officials told the New York Times that access to the base in southern Turkey would allow the United States to move more swiftly and nimbly against IS targets. The agreement would allow the U.S.-led coalition to conduct better surveillance over Syria and act quicker on intelligence than when it was limited to launching flights from places like Iraq, Jordan, and the Gulf states.
