Turkey Moves to Use Force in Syria and Iraq

A proposed resolution that would authorize the army to fight the extremists is all but certain to win formal approval from the parliament Thursday. It would allow the U.S.-led coalition conducting airstrikes against the militants to use Turkish air bases, a significant help to the coalition, given Turkey's proximity to the fighting.

"We are a determined government," Turkey's deputy prime minister, Bulent Arinc, was quoted as saying Tuesday in the Hurriyet Daily News. "We perfectly know what's going on inside and outside Turkey."

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan "has been on the fence about intervening," said James Phillips, an analyst at Heritage Foundation. "It looks like he is jumping off the fence."

The United States has said forming a broad coalition is critical to defeating the Islamic State. Tuesday, British aircraft participated for the first time in the air campaign against the Islamic State in Iraq. It launched two airstrikes in support of Kurdish forces fighting militants in northwestern Iraq.

Turkey has been reluctant to take military action against the extremists despite U.S. urging.

Until the militants moved closer to seizing border towns that would open up a border crossing from Syria to Turkey, the Turkish government ruled out use of its bases and prevented its citizens — mostly ethnic Kurds — from joining the fight against the Islamic State.

Kurdish militias are battling the extremists for control of the besieged city of Kobane, about a mile from the border.

Another concern of Turkey is the prospect of Turkish and Syrian Kurds uniting to fight the Islamic State, a move that could advance their dream of an independent state, which Turkey has long opposed. The Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), branded a terrorist group by the United States, has been fighting a guerrilla war with Turkey since the 1980s.

Sunday, a leader of the pro-Kurdish People's Democratic Party (HDP) crossed from Turkey into Kobane to meet with Syrian Kurds.

"Concrete, practical steps are needed. Then the perception of people will change. ...Turkey should not prevent aid heading to Kobane," HDP co-chair Selahattin Demirtas said, according to the Hurriyet Daily News.

Turkey has been under pressure from Washington to do more to curb the advance of the Islamic State. More than 160,000 refugees have poured into Turkey in the past week to flee the fighting. Altogether, more than 1.5 million refugees are in Turkey after years of civil war in Syria.

Turkey's leaders have proposed a border buffer zone that could include ground troops. That plan has been met with suspicion by Kurds, who fear it would cut off Kurdish militias in Syria suspected of being supplied by the PKK.

Turkey had been pushing the idea of establishing a no-fly zone over the border area in Syria that might help protect towns and villages across the border and lessen the numbers of refugees flooding into Turkey.

Washington says it has no plans to establish a no-fly zone. "A buffer zone might at some point become a possibility, but that's not part of our campaign plan presently," said Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.