Turkey and the United States are preparing a large-scale military operation in Syria against the Islamic State terrorist organization, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said during his visit to Malaysia.
"Following our agreement with the United States we have come a long way, especially with southern Turkey’s Incirlik Air Base. US planes and unmanned vehicles have already been arriving there. Soon we will begin large-scale fight against IS together," TASS cited him as saying.
According to local media reports, Pentagon said that yesterday the US Air Force used Incirlik Air Base on new conditions for the first time. Previously, only unarmed US drones could take off from the base.
An expert of Eurasian Center of the University of Ankara, political scientist Orhan Gafarli, told Vestnik Kavkaza that Cavusoglu's words mean that Ankara and Washington have managed to achieve a strategic partnership, and in particular, differences on the Syrian issue.
"Turkey and the United States are getting closer and able to agree on Syria and Bashar al-Assad. Apparently, it is a fact that Assad must leave slowly: Ba'ath party will remain after his leaving. The sides also agreed on the establishment of security in Syria on the border with Turkey," he said.
According to the expert, it is too early to talk about the details of possible operations. "A separate question is what operations will be carried out and how," the analyst said.
The benefits of military cooperation with the United States for Turkey is extremely high. "From a strategic point of view, it is very positive for Turkey, because earlier the authorities have stated that the fight against the IS is not conducted," he noted.
"Of course, there will be fight against the PKK, and at the same time against the IS. Turkish authorities are concerned by this threat, since the Kurdish region gives the possibility of opening the Kurdish geography and geopolitics of the Mediterranean Sea," Gafarli said.
"And Turkey is very concerned about this, because not only Kurds live in these areas but also Turkmen and Arabs," the expert said.
The political analyst believes that the world will perceive the news of the merger of Turkey and the United States in the fight against the IS generally positive. "The west side, of course, will treat positively, because Turkey is a NATO member. If you look from the perspective of Russia and China, I cannot say that Moscow and Beijing will look negatively on these operations. However, it would be better if India, China, Russia, Iran and other countries in the region also participate in the fight against IS, not only Turkey and the US," Orhan Gafarli concluded.
