Turkey | NATO holding rare emergency meeting at Ankara’s request

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, left, talks during a North Atlantic Council Meeting at NATO headquarters in Brussels

NATO declared its “strong solidarity” with Turkey yesterday as ambassadors gathered for a rare emergency meeting about the threat faced by a member.
Turkey requested the extraordinary meeting to gauge the threat the Islamic State extremist group poses to Turkey, and the actions Turkish authorities are taking in response, including attacks on Kurdish rebels.
“We strongly condemn the terrorist attacks against Turkey, and express our condolences to the Turkish government and the families” of victims killed in recent terrorist actions, NATO ambassadors said in a statement after the meeting.
“Terrorism poses a direct threat to the security of NATO countries and to international stability and prosperity,” the NATO statement said. “It is a global threat that knows no border, nationality or religion – a challenge that the international community must fight and tackle together.”
Article 4 of NATO’s founding treaty empowers member states to seek emergency consultations when they consider their “territorial integrity, political independence or security” to be in jeopardy. This was only the fifth such meeting in NATO’s 66-year history.
In Ankara, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkish and U.S. officials were discussing the creation of a safe zone near Turkey’s border with Syria, which would be cleared of IS group presence and turned into a secure area for Syrian refugees to return.
Speaking at a news conference yesterday before leaving for China, Erdogan also said it was impossible to advance a peace process with the Kurds as attacks on Turkey continue.
Recently, an IS suicide bombing near Turkey’s border with Syria left 32 people dead and an IS attack on Turkish forces killed a soldier. And yesterday, Turkey said a soldier was wounded in an attack along the border with Iraq.
After months of reluctance, Turkish warplanes last week started striking militant targets in Syria and agreed to allow the U.S. to launch its own strikes from Turkey’s strategically located Incirlik Air Base.
In a series of cross-border strikes, Turkey has not only targeted the IS group but also Kurdish fighters affiliated with forces battling IS in Syria and Iraq.
The Syrian Kurds are among the most effective ground forces battling IS and have been backed by U.S.-led airstrikes, but Turkey fears a revival of the Kurdish insurgency in pursuit of an independent state. John-Thor Dalhberg, Brussels, AP