Turkey disappoints West with low-key role in IS fight
9/21/2014 6:45:22 AM
Blamed by some for prompting the rise of the Islamic State insurgency, Turkey has finally taken steps to tighten its borders with Iraq and Syria but is still disappointing the West over its low-key role in the anti-IS fight.
Western diplomats accuse President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Islamic-rooted government of failing to show wholehearted support for the battle against IS militants who control swathes of Iraq and Syria, although Turkish officials bitterly reject these claims.
Ankara, which in the last years positioned itself as the major power in the Muslim world, had said its hands were tied while trying to save the lives of 49 Turks, including diplomats and children, who were taken hostage by the IS group in June in Mosul.
Even with the release of the hostages on Saturday it was unclear whether Turkey would now change course.
Many analysts say it was Turkey's policy -- spearheaded by then foreign minister now Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu -- of supporting Islamist elements within the Syrian rebellion to help oust President Bashar al-Assad that sparked the rise of the IS organisation.
"Turkey bears a direct responsibility for the rise of IS and is terribly embarrassed today," said Marc Pierini, a scholar at Carnegie Europe and former EU ambassador to Turkey.
"Until the past few months, access to Turkish territory was wide open to them. This has changed today under pressure from the West and also because the government has realised now, pretty late I must say, that the Islamic State could also be a direct threat to Turkey."
Erdogan this week angrily rejected claims Turkey encouraged IS jihadists, saying it was an "impertinence" to suggest Ankara supported terror.
"We have never accepted the concept of 'Islamic terror' and we never do so," he said.
Western diplomats accuse President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Islamic-rooted government of failing to show wholehearted support for the battle against IS militants who control swathes of Iraq and Syria, although Turkish officials bitterly reject these claims.
Ankara, which in the last years positioned itself as the major power in the Muslim world, had said its hands were tied while trying to save the lives of 49 Turks, including diplomats and children, who were taken hostage by the IS group in June in Mosul.
Even with the release of the hostages on Saturday it was unclear whether Turkey would now change course.
Many analysts say it was Turkey's policy -- spearheaded by then foreign minister now Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu -- of supporting Islamist elements within the Syrian rebellion to help oust President Bashar al-Assad that sparked the rise of the IS organisation.
"Turkey bears a direct responsibility for the rise of IS and is terribly embarrassed today," said Marc Pierini, a scholar at Carnegie Europe and former EU ambassador to Turkey.
"Until the past few months, access to Turkish territory was wide open to them. This has changed today under pressure from the West and also because the government has realised now, pretty late I must say, that the Islamic State could also be a direct threat to Turkey."
Erdogan this week angrily rejected claims Turkey encouraged IS jihadists, saying it was an "impertinence" to suggest Ankara supported terror.
"We have never accepted the concept of 'Islamic terror' and we never do so," he said.