A senior US delegation ended two days of talks Wednesday with Turkish officials on escalating the fight against Islamic State (IS) jihadists in Syria, sources said. The delegation, including US presidential envoy John Allen and Under Secretary of Defence for Policy Christine Wormuth, met in Ankara with Turkish military officials and foreign ministry under-secretary Feridun Sinirlioglu, they said.
"We discussed ways of strengthening the fight against Daesh," a Turkish diplomatic source told AFP, using an Arabic acronym for IS. "The parties had an exchange of views on reinforcing co-operation and coordination on this," said the source, who asked not to be named. A US embassy official described the talks as "constructive." They discussed "our mutual efforts as part of a broad coalition to degrade and destroy ISIL," the official said, using another term for IS.
Turkey - Nato's only majority Muslim member - has stayed out of active participation in the US-led coalition assisting Kurdish forces in the fight against IS, stirring irritation in Washington. According to Turkey's Hurriyet daily, the US side pressed Turkey for permission to use the Incirlik base in the south of the country for air strikes against IS in Syria.
Hurriyet said the Turkish government said it wanted to be kept informed of operations in real time and that attacks on populated areas be avoided to prevent more refugees fleeing to Turkey. Analysts say that Ankara is keeping its distance from the US-led campaign as it is wary of aiding Kurdish forces and also fears jihadists could launch revenge attacks inside Turkey.
Meanwhile, a plan for Turkey to train and equip moderate Syrian rebels on its territory has so far fallen flat, with just 60 opposition fighters reportedly being trained so far. Ankara is wary of the creation of an autonomous Kurdish region in northern Syria, fearing the growing power of Kurdish forces there will embolden Turkey's own Kurdish minority. Turkey has reinforced its military presence on the volatile Syrian border over the past week, deploying tanks and anti-aircraft missiles there as well as additional troops.
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