Defense Minister İsmet Yılmaz said yesterday that the government is discussing how to assist the U.S.-led coalition in its planned offensive against the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) to recapture Mosul. In response to remarks made by the exiled governor of Mosul, Atheel al-Nujaifi, who claimed that Turkey would be taking part in the offensive, Yılmaz said, "Turkey is part of the coalition. This means we have begun to provide concrete support." He also said the government would be weighing national interests and its responsibilities as a coalition member in deciding how to support the offensive.
Turkey is already part of the collation against ISIS, the country is still sheltering more than 200,000 refugees who fled an onslaught on the town of Kobani by ISIS militants and facilitated the passage of peshmerga forces to Kobani to provide support in its defense. Moreover, Turkey is training Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) peshmerga fighters to help battle against ISIS.
"Turkey has taken steps on every aspect of our anti-ISIS coalition, which is not just military. It is also cracking down on foreign fighters. It's also about financing. It's also about delegitimizing ISIS," U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said on February 27.
However, Turkey's priorities in Syria differ from those of the U.S. and Ankara has refused to take a frontline military role in the air offensive mounted by the U.S.-led coalition against ISIS unless it comes with a broader strategy to topple the regime of President Bashar Assad in Damascus. On the other hand, diplomatic sources from the U.S. believe that Ankara may take a more active role after signing the train-and-equip program and reducing the risk of an ISIS attack on Turkey by successfully relocating the Tomb of Süleyman Shah in an overnight military operation.
Recent bilateral meetings also indicate that Turkey's participation in the fight against ISIS in a frontline military role is still being discussed. Chief of General Staff Gen. Necdet Özel attended a meeting of coalition military heads in Saudi Arabia's capital of Riyadh on February 18. Moreover, Yılmaz said that he will travel to Iraq on March 4 to visit both Baghdad and Irbil, the capital of the KRG. Despite these activities, government sources say that under current circumstances Turkey will not assist an operation to retake Mosul from ISIS by sending military forces. However, sources also hinted that Turkey may support this military operation with logistical support and ammunition.
