IRIA News

No-fly zone over northern Syria also included in US-Turkish agreement

Turkey has agreed to allow U.S. military launch airstrikes against the Islamic State from a key air base near the Syrian border, senior U.S. officials said Thursday, giving a boost to the U.S.-led coalition while drawing Turkey deeper into the conflict.

Under the deal, the U.S. military will be allowed to launch manned and unmanned flights from Incirlik; in the past, only unmanned drone flights were allowed.

President Barack Obama and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan finalized the deal in a phone call Wednesday, giving a fresh boost to the US-led coalition while drawing Turkey deeper into the conflict. However, Erdoğan refused to elaborate on the details of the agreement while it is said he had made it in a telephone conversation earlier this week with President Barack Obama.

American officials said access to the base in southern Turkey, not far from IS strongholds across the border in Syria, would allow the U.S. to move more swiftly and nimbly against IS targets. If the agreement holds, the U.S.-led coalition will be positioned 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.

Turkish reports suggest the agreement also covers the “emergency” use by allied aircraft of other Turkish airbases, including those in the south-eastern provinces of Batman, Diyarbakır and Malatya.

“Turkey is a critical partner in degrading and defeating ISIL, and we appreciate the essential support Turkey provides to the international coalition across the many lines of effort,” said Alistair Baskey, a spokesman for the White House’s National Security Council.

İncirlik Air Base, located near Turkey’s border with Syria, is a joint US-Turkish installation that houses the US Air Force’s 39th Air Base Wing. Its proximity to ISIL-controlled territory in Syria — including Raqqa, the group’s de facto capital — makes it an attractive launching pad for US airstrikes against the militant group.

Turkey shares a 1,250-kilometer (775-mile) border with Syria and with Iraq, where ISIS also controls broad swathes of territory.

Turkey faces serious ISIS threat

Earlier, Turkey’s government had resisted the move but in recent days a surge in ISIS activity in Turkey has brought concerns about the militant group to the forefront.

“What is important in the face of Daesh (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria – ISIS) is to block the terrorists’ transit points and to have physical obstacles to this. A physical security system will be established at the border,” Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç told reporters during a break from a cabinet meeting attended by the commander of Turkey’s ground forces on late July 22.

Secure zones inside Syria

One of the most important requests that Washington had long been pressing for is the use of the İncirlik base, as well as of Turkish airspace, as part of the coalition’s aerial campaign against ISIS.

In return, Ankara has demanded U.S. assistance in establishing secure zones inside Syria and their protection by air.

“An agreement [on the use of İncirlik] could be possible if we can agree on other terms as well,” an official told the Hürriyet Daily News’ Ankara representative Serkan Demirtaş at the time.

Military officials from Turkey and the U.S. agreed to deploy armed drones at the İncirlik air base in March, but waited for almost three months for the political consent from the Turkish government.

Former U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel described the İncirlik base as a critical one for NATO while answering a recent question of daily Hürriyet.

Partial no-fly zone included in US-Turkey consensus: Turkish sources

The recent joint action consensus between Turkey and the United States also covers a partial no-fly zone over the Turkey-Syria border.

Under the reported no-fly zone agreement, Syrian regime jets will not be permitted within the zone, and those that violate it will be targeted, Hürriyet reported. And, it suggested, the US has agreed to turn a blind eye to possible future Turkish military action against the Syrian Kurds. “The agreement did not directly target the Syrian-Kurdish Democratic Union party (PYD), but a counter move will be possible if the PYD and its armed forces, the People’s Protection Units (YPG), threaten the Turkish border, namely bidding to change the demographic structure, according to sources. However, they said the US would not take a direct stance against the PYD, which is now fighting against Isis.”

In addition, Turkey is planning new border security measures to halt the flow of foreign jihadis, including surveillance balloons and West Bank-style fortifications and separation walls. In return, it has been assured that European countries such as Britain will do more to prevent would-be Isis recruits heading for Turkey.