Turkey has no plans to send ground troops into Syria to fight the Islamic State group, the prime minister says.
Ahmet Davutoglu said air strikes on IS positions close to the Syria/Turkey border and on Kurdish PKK separatists in Iraq could “change the game”.
Turkey’s actions are in response to violent attacks last week in Turkey itself, including the death of 32 activists in a bombing in Suruc.
Nato is to hold an emergency meeting on Tuesday to discuss the situation.
Turkish tanks shelled the Kurdish-held village of Zur Maghar in northern Syria overnight, injuring at least four fighters, according to a statement from the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) on Monday morning.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group also reported the Turkish fire on Zur Maghar.
Mr Davutoglu told a meeting of Turkish newspaper editors that, following Turkey’s military action, there were now “new conditions” in the regional conflict.
“The presence of a Turkey that can use its force effectively can lead to consequences which can change the game in Syria, Iraq and the entire region; everyone should see that,” the Hurriyet Daily News quoted him as saying. Turkey – a Nato member – has requested Tuesday’s meeting based on Article 4 of the the organisation’s founding treaty, which allows members to request such a meeting if their territorial integrity or security is threatened.
“When Turkey requests for such a meeting I think it’s very right and very timely to have a meeting where we address the turmoil and the instability we see in Syria, Iraq and surrounding and close to Nato borders of Turkey,” Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told the BBC.
Mr Davutoglu said Turkey was prepared to work with the Syrian Kurdish PYD group – which has links to the PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party) – provided it did not pose a threat to Turkey and severed relations with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. However, the raids against the PKK in northern Iraq effectively ended a two-year ceasefire.
Turkish jets were again in action over northern Iraq on Sunday. A PKK spokesman told the AFP news agency that two positions north of Dohuk and north of Irbil had been hit.
Earlier on Sunday, a car bomb hit a Turkish military vehicle on a highway near the mainly Kurdish city of Diyarbakir in south-east Turkey, the army said.
Kurdish militants then opened fire on the vehicle killing two soldiers and wounding four others, it added.
In recent days, Turkey has also arrested hundreds of people suspected of supporting IS or the PKK.
Police raids on suspected IS and PKK members in the city of Istanbul triggered three days of rioting in the Gazi district. At least one activist and a policeman have been killed.
The US has called on both Turkey and the PKK to avoid violence, but said Turkey had the right to defend itself against attacks by Kurdish rebels.
Credit: BBC.com
