TURKEY REFUSES US PERMISSION FOR COMBAT MISSIONS AGAINST ISIS: OFFICIAL

TURKEY REFUSES US PERMISSION FOR COMBAT MISSIONS AGAINST ISIS: OFFICIAL
Turkey will refuse to allow a US-led coalition to attack ISIS militants 

in neighbouring Iraq and Syria from its air bases, nor will it take part

in combat operations against militants, a government official told AFP 

Thursday.


"Turkey will not be involved in any armed operation but will entirely 

concentrate on humanitarian operations," the official said on condition 

of anonymity.


The decision echoes the country's refusal to allow the US to station 

60,000 troops in Turkey in 2003 to invade Iraq from the north, which 

triggered a crisis between the two allies.


Ankara then also refused Washington permission to use its air bases to attack Saddam Hussein's regime.

US Secretary of State John Kerry was to hold talks in Saudi Arabia on 

Thursday to drum up support from 10 key Arab nations and Turkey, after 

President Barack Obama announced Washington's new strategy against ISIS 

militants, which will include air strikes in Syria.
After a lightning advance, ISIS militants now control swathes of Iraq and much of northern Syria along the Turkish border.

Turkey now sees itself a victim of ISIS with Islamist militants holding 

49 Turks hostage, including diplomats and children, abducted from the 

Turkish consulate in Mosul in Iraq on June 11.


Ankara is therefore reluctant to take a stronger role in the coalition 

against ISIS militants in apparent fear of aggravating the hostage 

situation.

"Our hands and arms are tied because of the hostages," the official told AFP.


Turkey can open Incirlik Air Base in the south for logistical and 

humanitarian operations in any US-led operation, according to the 

official who stressed that the base would not be used for lethal air 

strikes.

" Turkey will not take part in any combat mission, nor supply weapons," he said.

Turkey is the only Muslim country in a coalition of 10 countries who agreed to fight ISIS at the NATO summit in Newport.


Kerry is due to stop over in Turkey on Friday according to the official,

although the US embassy in Ankara declined to confirm the visit that 

comes as part of a regional tour.