NATO Ally 'Light' Turkey.

NATO Ally 'Light' Turkey. (HD).

Turkey is now a part of the coalition against ISIL, along with the U.S., Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Hungary from Europe, Australia, and Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Qatar, and Bahrein from the Arab geography. “The number is tending to increase,” the Turkish source said.

Turkey takes its place in the coalition with three functions for the time being:

1- Logistical and humanitarian-purpose use of İncirlik and other Turkish military bases.

2- Opening up the Turkish air space for humanitarian and logistical flights to support the anti-ISIL fight in Iraq (“But no armed flights, including drones,” the official underlines.)

3- Extra measures on border security. Turkey has a 910 km border with Syria, and a 384 km border with Iraq; both of which are rough terrains. Turkey has already been cooperating with its NATO allies against “foreign fighters” - those carrying American or European passports travelling via Turkey to join either ISIL or al-Qaeda - for the last few months. It seems now that the cooperation will expand to include more effective law enforcement measures.

Both Turkish and Western sources say the framework of the cooperation might change regarding the “new” U.S. strategy expected to be announced by Obama.Read the full story here.