Syrian Kurds take cover from the rain in the southeastern town of Suruc in Sanliurfa province after crossing the border between Syria and Turkey after mortars hit both sides on October 2. AFP Photo
Syrian Kurds take cover from the rain in the southeastern town of Suruc in Sanliurfa province after crossing the border between Syria and Turkey after mortars hit both sides on October 2. AFP Photo
Syrian Kurds take cover from the rain in the southeastern town of Suruc in Sanliurfa province after crossing the border between Syria and Turkey after mortars hit both sides on October 2. AFP Photo
Syrian Kurds take cover from the rain in the southeastern town of Suruc in Sanliurfa province after crossing the border between Syria and Turkey after mortars hit both sides on October 2. AFP Photo

World

Turkish parliament approves possible military action against ISIL

Parliament voted 298-98 in favour of the motion which sets the legal framework for any Turkish military involvement in Iraq or Syria, and for the potential use of Turkish bases by foreign troops.

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ANKARA // The Turkish parliament approved a motion on Thursday enabling the government to authorise military incursions into Iraq and Syria to battle ISIL.
The motion also allows foreign soldiers to be stationed in Turkey and to use its military bases for the same purposes.
Ankara has come under pressure to play a more robust role in the US-led military campaign against ISIL after the insurgents advanced to within clear sight of Turkish military positions on the Syrian border.
Parliament voted 298-98 in favour of the motion which sets the legal framework for any Turkish military involvement in Iraq or Syria, and for the potential use of Turkish bases by foreign troops.
Meanwhile, the militants pressed their offensive against a beleaguered Kurdish town along the Syria-Turkey border. The assault, which has forced about 160,000 people to flee across the frontier in recent days, left Kurdish militiamen scrambling Thursday to repel ISIL extremists pushing into the outskirts of Kobani, also known as Ain Al Arab.
Turkey, a Nato member with a large and modern military, has yet to define what role it intends to play in the US-led coalition against ISIL.
Parliament had previously approved operations into Iraq and Syria to attack Kurdish separatists or to thwart threats from the Syrian regime. Thursday's motion would expand those powers to address threats from ISIL militants who control a large cross-border swath of Iraq and Syria, in some parts right up to the Turkish border.
Asked what measures Turkey would take after the motion is approved, defence minister Ismet Yilmaz said: "don't expect any immediate steps."
"The motion prepares the legal ground for possible interventions, but it is too early to say what those interventions will be," said Dogu Ergil, a professor of political science and columnist for Today's Zaman newspaper.
Mr Ergil said the motion could allow Iraqi Kurdish fighters, for example to use Turkey's territory to safely cross into Syria, to help Syrian Kurdish forces there, or the deployment of coalition forces' drones.
The US has been bombing ISIL group across Syria since last week and in neighbouring Iraq since early August.
Ismet Sheikh Hasan, a senior fighter, said the Kurdish forces were preparing for urban clashes in Kobani in a desperate attempt to repel the militants.
"We are preparing outsides for street battles," Mr Hasan said. "They still haven't entered Kobani, but we are preparing ourselves."
Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an activist group tracking the Syrian conflict, reported that ISIL fighters were, in some cases, just "hundreds of metres" from Kobani on its eastern and south-east side. The militants were about a mile away on the southern side of town.
In a statement, the Observatory said it had "real fears" that the militants would storm Kobani and "butcher civilians remaining in the city."
Last week, a US-led coalition seeking to destroy ISIL began bombing the militants' locations around Kobani But the airstrikes haven't halted the militants' advance, said Mr Hasan.
That included explosions heard overnight around the Kobani area, believed to be caused by US strikes, said Mr Hasan. There was no immediate confirmation from Washington on the latest airstrikes. The strikes were also reported the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an activist group tracking the Syrian conflict.
Turkey had been reluctant to join its Nato allies in a coalition against ISIL, citing worries about the safety of Turkish hostages held by the group. It reversed its decision after the hostages' release earlier this month.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called for the creation of a buffer zone inside Syria as well as a no-fly zone to secure Turkey's borders and stem the flow of refugees. He has also called for military training and equipment for the Syrian opposition fighting the regime of Syrian president Bashar Al Assad.
"In the struggle against terrorism, we are open and ready for every kind of cooperation. However, Turkey is not a country that will allow itself to be used for temporary solutions," Mr Erdogan said on Wednesday.
"An effective struggle against ISIL or other terror organisations will be our priority," Mr Erdogan said. "The immediate removal of the administration in Damascus, Syria's territorial unity and the installation of an administration which embraces all will continue to be our priority. "
The motion cites also cites a potential threat to a revered mausoleum inside Syria that is considered Turkish territory. The tiny plot of land that is a memorial to Suleyman Shah, grandfather of the founder of the Ottoman Empire, is guarded by Turkish troops.
* Reuters and Associated Press

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