Asia

Asia

Turkey lawmakers give green light to military ops in Iraq, Syria

03 October 2014 01:28 (UTC +04:00)

On Thursday, Turkey’s 550-seat parliament voted 298-98 in favor of the motion that would provide the legal ground for Ankara to deploy forces to Iraq and Syria and launch attacks against ISIL terrorists, members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and even Syrian government forces.

According to the motion, which will last for one year, the Turkish government could also allow foreign forces to use the country’s soil for their so-called anti-terror operations.

Legislators from Turkey’s Republican People’s Party (CHP) and the People’s Democracy Party (HDP) were among those who voted “No” to the mandate.

Akif Hamzacebi, a senior CHP member, criticized the motion as a “battle cry,” stressing that such a mandate was, in fact, aimed at fighting the Syrian government, not the ISIL terrorists.

Ertugrul Kurkcu, a lawmaker from the HDP party, also slammed the government bill and said, “You (Ankara) were the ones who supported ISIL, and you are still supporting it.”

The parliament’s decision comes days after the government stationed some 15 tanks that took position in the border town of Mursitpinar situated northwest of the Syrian border town of Ain al-Arab, known as Kobani to Kurds.

Since September 22, the United States and its allies have been conducting airstrikes against ISIL inside Syria without authorization from Damascus or a UN mandate.

Turkey, a NATO member, has been under pressure by Western countries to cooperate with them in their so-called anti-ISIL operations.

Ankara has been a major supporter of foreign-backed Takfiri terrorists operating to topple the Damascus government since March 2011.