Turkey the 'unwilling' Sometimes NATO 'Ally' in U.S. coalition against Islamic State.(Reuters).
Reflecting the sensitivity of the issue in Turkey, Turkish officials have privately stressed that none of the U.S. aircraft attacking Iraq came from Incirlik Air Base in southern Turkey.
"They will not allow the use of Incirlik for lethal air strikes," said Henri Barkey, a Lehigh University professor and former member of the State Department policy planning staff.
"The Foley execution was a message not just to us, but also to the Turks," he added, referring to an IS video released on Aug. 19 that showed a masked fighter beheading U.S. journalist James Foley. A video showing the execution of a second U.S. journalist, Steven Sotloff, became public on Tuesday.
While stressing their commitment to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, which Turkey joined in 1952, Turkish officials voiced an unwillingness to jeopardize their hostages.
"We are a NATO ally. We share the same principles and values with the West. But we have our 46 hostages," said one Turkish official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
A Western diplomat in Ankara said: "They are hamstrung. They can’t, understandably really, sign up with enthusiasm to military action. I’m sure privately they are supportive but they ... don’t feel they’re able to come down definitively in public."
U.S.-based analysts, including retired Lieutenant General David Barno, a former top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, said Turkey could help behind the scenes by allowing tankers, reconnaissance planes and drones to operate from its territory.
"It’s a higher probability they might be willing to use those bases for non-lethal activities ... as opposed to aircraft carrying bombs," said Barno, who is now at the Center for a New American Security think tank in Washington. Hmmm....Turkey is only NATO member for it's own benefit it needs 'Protection' and weaponry...until it will turn on NATO. The West is only fooling itself.
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