Turkey’s air strikes on Islamic State targets in Syria and Ankara’s consent to the US using a key airbase to launch attacks on the militant group signal a strategy switch.
The new strategy effectively makes Turkey a full member of the US-led coalition against IS extremists but raises the risk of cross-border reprisals and could give a stronger hand to Kurdish militants.
The air strikes mean that Turkey is really joining a coalition, of which it had only been a nominal member until now.
The military action seems part of a months-long evolution in diplomatic strategy.
Turkey had altered its rules of engagement to more clearly delineate IS as a threat to the Turkish state, according to Aaron Stein, a non-resident fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East.
The IS-linked suicide bombing in the border town of Suruc on July 20 that killed 32 people provides a public justification for this policy shift.
Turkey’s decision to allow the US to use the Incirlik base gives Washington an easier jumping off point for bombing raids against IS.
Washington will now be able to use the Incirlik base in southern Turkey for the air strikes. It is about 400km north-west of Raqqa, Islamic State’s de facto capital in Syria, and shortens the distance for US fighter jets, which had been using bases in Arab nations.
“No doubt the Turkish government decision to grant access to US military aircraft to use Incirlik in southern Turkey against Islamic State is a major turning point in Turkey’s position,” said Fadi Hakura from the Chatham House think tank in London.
The risk of seeing the Kurds in Syria take advantage of the new situation, however, could complicate the issue for Turkey.
Analysts also say that reports about a deal with the US to establish a no-fly zone in Syria along the Turkish border could make it easier to counter the militants but also to contain Kurdish forces.
In any case Hakura says, while Turkish intervention will “accelerate” the struggle against IS, “still it appears that it will take some time before the Islamic State is completely weakened”.
Turkey has faced increasing insecurity along its 900km frontier with Syria. A cross-border firefight on Thursday between the army and Islamic State, which has seized large areas of Syria and Iraq, left five militants and one soldier dead.
Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has described the strikes as part of an ongoing “process” against the militants, adding that Turkey would take further measures to protect its security. Davutoglu said Islamic State targets threatening Turkey were destroyed.