Ukraine in Arabic | Turkey backs operations in Syria and Iraq
KYIV/Ukraine in Arabic/ Turkey's parliament has authorized the government to carry out cross-border military operations in Iraq and Syria to fight the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and other armed groups.
Thursday's vote also allows foreign soldiers to be stationed in Turkey and to use its military bases for the same purposes with no limit on the troop numbers.
In the 550 seat chamber, 298 deputies approved the bill, allowing the use of the armed forces in the two war-torn neighbouring countries. The bill also allows for foreign forces to transit Turkish territory in operations against Islamic State (IS) militants.
The requested mandate would last for one year.
This comes as Turkey becomes increasingly concerned about the security of its borders with Iraq and Syria.
"Kurds have made it clear that they are very unhappy at the prospect of an invasion into the areas [that IS] hold in northern Syria and at a possible 'safe zone being set up there," said David Barchard, a Turkey-based journalist and MEE contributor. "But they are also annoyed that Turkish forces did not come to their aid much earlier. Tonight's vote coincides with news that IS forces are entering Kobane and that there is a blood bath. Kurds would have preferred it if Turkey had opened up a channel for arms and men to go through into Kobane and strengthen its defence. I think the Kurdish mood, in the south east of the country, is angry and resentful and they find it difficult to see how they will benefit from this."
"This is a risky manoeuvre in Turkish political terms because there is little doubt that there is no great popular enthusiasm for this intervention. Turkey has always tried to stay out of trouble in the region beside it. So the government will have to look over its shoulder in anything it does to ensure that public opinion is following it," he added.
Kobane under fire
The controversial vote comes as Kurdish militiamen backed by US-led air strikes were locked in fierce fighting to prevent the besieged Syrian border town of Kobane from falling to IS. Heavy mortar fire around the town was heard across the Turkish border, an AFP correspondent reported. The town would be a major prize for IS, giving it unbroken control of a long stretch of the Syrian-Turkish border.
"There are real fears that the IS may be able to advance into the town of Kobane itself very soon," the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights warned.
The Britain-based watchdog reported fresh US-led air strikes on the advancing militants overnight after the heavily outgunned Kurdish fighters were forced to fall back west and southeast of the town, also known as Ain al-Arab.
A Kurdish official inside Kobane acknowledged that the better armed IS fighters had advanced during the night. "They are closer, two to three kilometres in some places," Idris Nahsen told AFP by telephone.
"Compared to IS, our weaponry is simple. They have cannons, long-range rockets and tanks."
As IS militants near the outskirts of Kobane, there has been a quickening in the civilian exodus, which had already seen tens of thousands take refuge across the border in Turkey. More than 160,000 mainly Kurdish Syrian refugees have fled north to Turkey since 19 September.
"Kobane is practically empty of its residents now," Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.