US presses
Turkey to take 'urgent' action on IS
The United
States Thursday warned that "urgent and rapid" steps were needed to
stop the onslaught of Islamic militants as US envoys pressed a
"well-positioned" Turkey to join the fight.
Retired
general John Allen, who is leading efforts to build a US-led coalition against
the Islamic State (IS) group and US pointman on Iraq, Brett McGurk, were
meeting with Turkish officials in Ankara for "very detailed
conversations."
These would
touch on the situation in the besieged Syrian-Kurdish town of Kobane just across
the border with Turkey as well as "identifying specific contributions and
areas of cooperation," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.
"The
events of last week have made it clear that urgent and rapid steps are needed
to stop ISIL military capability, and General Allen and ambassador McGurk will
make that clear in their meetings with Turkish officials," she added.
There has
been disappointment in Washington that Ankara has yet to commit its
well-equipped and well-trained forces to the fight against the militants, also
known by the acronym ISIL.
But Psaki
insisted: "It's not a situation where we are making demands."
"We are
having a discussion with Turkey that's been ongoing, but certainly will
continue today about what role they're willing to play in the coalition
efforts."
But she
acknowledged "there is no question that Turkey is well-positioned to
contribute," citing such things as military cooperation, stopping
terrorist financing, countering foreign fighter flows into the region and
providing humanitarian assistance.
"They
have the capability to contribute in all of those areas," she told
reporters, adding part of the discussions would focus on what military
contributions they could make.
Turkish
Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu however said earlier that Ankara could not be
expected to act alone.
"It's
not realistic to expect that Turkey will lead a ground operation on its
own," he said.
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