File Photo: Members of the Islamic State militant group. (Associated Press)
Turkey sought moral support for its campaign against militants in Syria and Iraq at an emergency meeting today with its North Atlantic allies, with both NATO and Ankara playing down any idea of a call for military help from the alliance.
Turkey requested urgent consultations with its 27 NATO partners in Brussels after stepping up its role in the U.S.-led fight against Islamic State with air strikes, also hitting Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) camps in Iraq at the weekend.
"Turkey requested the meeting after the recent terrorist attacks, and also to inform allies of the measures it is taking," said deputy NATO spokeswoman Carmen Romero, referring to an Islamic State attack that killed at least 32 mostly young students in a Turkish town near the Syrian border last week.
"This meeting is a signal of strong solidarity with Turkey."
The meeting of NATO ambassadors, starting at 1100 CET (0900 GMT), was held under Article 4 of NATO's founding treaty, which permits a member of the alliance to ask for consultations with other allies when it feels its security is threatened.
Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said in an interview on ATV television on Monday it was critical that NATO understood "our intentions correctly", but allied security support would be sought only if Turkey required it.
Turkey is not invoking Article 5, which would require allies to consider military assistance. Ankara twice invoked Article 4 in 2012 to ask for consultations with its NATO allies over the Syria conflict, notably after an aerial clash with Damascus.
During preparations for Tuesday's meeting, Turkey did not request any air or troop support from its NATO allies, according to people with knowledge of the discussions.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg spoke to Davutoglu on Friday and "commended Turkey's determination to deal with Islamic State," Romero said.
Ambiguity
Beyond NATO's expected political endorsement, the United States, the dominant power in the alliance, has made some concessions by pledging to work with Turkey to create a safe zone inside Syria for displaced persons from the civil war that should relieve some of the refugee pressure on Ankara.
While President Tayyip Erdogan is now taking an active role in the fight against Islamic State militants after years of ambiguity over support for jihadi fighters in Syria, his policy shift comes together with an assault on Kurdish groups that enjoy some sympathy in the West, particularly in Europe.
European allies, who need Turkey's help to combat jihadi fighter returning to Europe, are likely to look for ways to make clear at the same time they don't want Erdogan to jeopardise several years of a domestic peace process which they supported.
That entailed giving Turkey's own Kurdish population more cultural rights with the prospect, over time, of greater autonomy in the southeastern regions where they constitute a majority.
The European Commission expressed support for Turkey's right to self-defence against "terrorism" on Monday while stressing the need "to keep the settlement process with the Kurdish people on track."
© Thomson Reuters 2015