MIDEAST-CRISIS/TURKEY-NATO MEETING END NATO chief says all members strongly support Turkey

Record ID: 145983

  • Title: MIDEAST-CRISIS/TURKEY-NATO MEETING END NATO chief says all members strongly support Turkey
  • Date: 28th July 2015
  • Summary: BRUSSELS, BELGIUM (JULY 28, 2015) (REUTERS) KURDISH PROTESTERS WAVING FLAGS IN FRONT OF EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT MAN HOLDING SIGN READING (English): "The real terrorists are those who provocate (sic) war!" WOMEN IN HEADSCARVES HOLDING FLAGS PROTESTERS GATHERED / SIGN READING (French): "Massacres and attacks will not intimidate us. We will win!" PHOTOGRAPHS OF KURDISH VICTIMS, INCLUDING PEOPLE KILLED IN JULY 20 SUICIDE BOMB ATTACK IN SURUC (SOUNDBITE) (French) REPRESENTATIVE IN EUROPE FROM TURKEY'S PEOPLE'S DEMOCRATIC PARTY, DORU EYYUP, SAYING: "Turkey officially says that it is carrying out this war against Daesh and the PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party) but in reality when you see the effects of the war, the airstrikes, all of that, you see that the true war is against the Kurdish people. One the one hand, the number of arrests, especially among Kurdish associations and Kurdish activists, and on the other hand, it's the region that has been bombed by the Turkish airforce -- it's a vast region of southern Kurdistan, of the Kurdistan in Iraq, and a vast region of Kurdistan in Turkey."
  • Embargoed: 12th August 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Belgium
  • Country: Belgium
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA9FTZAJG3F3SE91CCUL5VMR7V1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: NATO offered political support for Turkey's campaign against militants in Syria and Iraq on Tuesday (July 28) at an emergency meeting requested by Turkey to discuss instability at its borders.
    Turkey requested urgent consultations with its 27 NATO allies in Brussels after stepping up its role in the U.S.-led fight against Islamic State with air strikes, also hitting Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) camps in Iraq at the weekend.
    "All allies expressed their strong support for Turkey and we stand all together united in solidarity with Turkey and all allies also condemned terrorism in all its forms," Stoltenberg told a news briefing in Brussels.
    A suspected Islamic State suicide bombing killed 32 mostly young students last week in the Turkish town of Suruc on the border with Syria.
    NATO rules provide for mutual support if an ally comes under attack, although Turkey has not invoked Article 5 of the North Atlantic treaty which requires allied nations to consider military action.
    "Turkey didn't ask for any additional military presence in Turkey. What we all know is that Turkey is a staunch ally. Turkey has very capable armed forces," Stoltenberg said.
    While Turkey is now taking an active role in the fight against Islamic State militants after years of ambiguity over support for jihadi fighters in Syria, President Tayyip Erdogan's policy shift comes together with an assault on Kurdish groups that enjoy some sympathy in the West, particularly in Europe.
    Kurdish demonstrators gathered in front of the European Parliament in Brussels to protest against Turkish strikes.
    The outlawed PKK has waged an insurgency against Ankara for Kurdish autonomy since 1984. Opposition politicians and critics accuse Erdogan of taking up the campaign against Islamic State as political cover to clamp down on Kurds.
    "Turkey officially says that it is carrying out this war against Daesh and the PKK but in reality when you see the effects of the war, the airstrikes, all of that, you see that the true war is against the Kurdish people," representative in Europe from Turkey's People's Democratic Party Doru Eyyup told Reuters Television, before adding: "One the one hand, the number of arrests, especially among Kurdish associations and Kurdish activists, and on the other hand, it's the region that has been bombed by the Turkish airforce -- it's a vast region of southern Kurdistan, of the Kurdistan in Iraq, and a vast region of Kurdistan in Turkey."
    A senior U.S. diplomat condemned recent PKK attacks but denied any link between Turkey's new strikes on Kurdish militants and its newfound boldness in tackling Islamic State, which has seized large expanses of neighbouring Syria and Iraq.
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