Turkey Eyeing Buffer Zone To Check Militants

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I believe we can all realize why Turkey is thinking of doing that.

Turkey eyeing buffer zone to check militants September 17, 2014 [TBODY] [/TBODY] ISTANBUL: Turkey’s military is mulling the prospect of establishing a buffer zone along its border with Syria and Iraq amid an escalating threat posed by Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) extremists, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was quoted as saying on Tuesday. “The TSK (Turkish Armed Forces) are working on plans and will present them to us and we will decide if it is necessary,” Erdogan was quoted as saying by the Hurriyet newspaper and other media, when asked about the possibility of a buffer zone being established. A government official confirmed that Turkey was devising plans for a buffer zone along the volatile border. [TBODY] [/TBODY] [TBODY] [/TBODY] Continue reading at: http://gulftoday.ae/portal/ef7

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ISIS now on Turkey's doorstep...

Kurdish fighter: ISIS has entered Syrian city of Kobani
Fri October 3, 2014 ~ Small arms fire can be heard from southwest Kobani, as east is bombarded; ISIS fighters have entered the Syrian Kurdish city, a Kurdish fighter says; Turkish PM says Turkey will do whatever it can to prevent the fall of Kobani; Turkey has authorized military action in Iraq and Syria, and Australia in Iraq

ISIS fighters entered the besieged Syrian Kurdish city of Kobani, a Kurdish fighter said Friday, setting the stage for a vicious street-to-street battle in the shadow of Turkey's border. Alan Minbic, a fighter with the Kurdish People's Protection Unit, or YPG, told CNN that ISIS now controls the southwest corner of the city, known in Arabic as Ayn al-Arab. However, there were conflicting reports. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a London-based monitoring group, said it did not believe that ISIS was in the city itself based on information from more than a dozen sources in Kobani.

On Friday, ISIS released a short video showing the apparent beheading of British aid worker Alan Henning. In the same video, the group threatens the life of another hostage, American aid worker Peter Kassig. In the same video, the terror group threatened the life of an American aid worker. Since August, ISIS has beheaded American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, and British aid worker David Haines. If ISIS, also known as ISIL and the Islamic State, takes Kobani, it will control a complete swath of land from its self-declared capital of Raqqa, Syria, on the Euphrates River to the Turkish border, more than 60 miles away.

Thousands of civilians have fled the predominantly Kurdish city in northern Syria in recent days as ISIS forces apparently have advanced inexorably toward it.

The Sunni extremist group's reported entry into the city comes a day after Turkish lawmakers voted overwhelmingly to authorize military force against ISIS in Iraq and Syria. Australia decided hours later to join the U.S.-led air campaign against ISIS in Iraq.

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu vowed to help the Kurdish fighters defend Kobani from ISIS. "We wouldn't want Kobani to fall," he said. "We welcomed our brothers who came from Kobani. We'll do whatever we can to prevent this from happening." For months, ISIS has been advancing, capturing portions of northern and eastern Syria and western and northern Iraq for what it says is its new Islamic state, or caliphate.

The fighting has only intensified in the region in recent days, with ISIS nearly surrounding Kobani, not far from Turkey's border. Remaining civilians were ordered Thursday to evacuate and headed to the border, as Kurdish fighters declared their readiness to take on the ISIS militants in street warfare.

Snipers take aim

See also:

Islamic State: Turkish MPs back Iraq-Syria deployment
2 October 2014 ~ Turkey's parliament has backed a motion that could allow its military to enter Iraq and Syria to join the campaign against Islamic State (IS) militants.

The resolution - passed with a three-quarters majority - will also permit foreign troops to use Turkish territory for the operation. Turkey has been under pressure to play a more active role in the US-led fight. The government dropped its reluctance to combat IS militants directly after the release of 46 hostages last month. The Turkish citizens had been held by IS in northern Iraq. However, Turkey still remains wary of retaliation by IS and also fears helping Kurds, who are fighting the militants. Turkey has fought a long civil war with its Kurdish minority.

Porous border

Protesters demonstrated outside parliament as the debate began but the motion was passed with 298 MPs in favour and 98 against. It provides a legal framework for the Turkish military to launch incursions into Syria and Iraq against militants who threaten Turkey. It also allows for foreign troops to be stationed in Turkey as part of the same campaign. The approval of the MPs could enable the US to use its large airbase at Incirlik in southern Turkey for air strikes against IS.

Relief aid is being flown to northern Iraq from Turkey's Incirlik airbase

Asked what action Turkey might take now, Defence Minister Ismet Yilmaz told Associated Press news agency: "Don't expect any immediate steps." Turkey has long been accused of permitting the flow of jihadists and resources into Syria as well as allowing IS to traffic oil from oilfields it has captured. The government in Ankara denies the allegations. Turkey has a porous and vulnerable border with Syria, more than 900km (560 miles) long.
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Analysis: BBC's Mark Lowen in Istanbul

With a strong majority in parliament, the result of the vote was never in doubt. But whether this motion translates into Turkish troops being sent into battle is another matter. Turkey shares a long, vulnerable border with Iraq and Syria and fears retaliation, not least against Turkish troops protecting an Ottoman tomb in Syria, which IS militants have approached. It is reluctant to help the Kurds - with whom Turkey fought a long civil war - in their fight against IS.

And it wants the coalition to broaden its aims, so that military intervention targets the Assad regime and a buffer zone is set up in Syria to help cope with the refugee influx, both of which seem some way off. Some analysts believe that by using a blanket term in the motion - "terrorist organisations" - rather than mentioning Islamic State by name, Ankara's real target is the Kurdish PKK, still on the terrorist list. But Kurds on the ground say that if Turkey wants IS pushed back from its borders, it must help Kurdish fighters in Syria, rather than seeing them as the enemy.

'Effective struggle'