US bombers get okay to use Turkey’s air bases

TURKEY has agreed to allow US warplanes to use its air bases for the first time for bombing missions against Islamic State in Syria, US and Turkish officials said.

The agreement came after president Barack Obama spoke with Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan and discussed the two countries’ deepening involvement in the fight against the Sunni extremists, who have seized vast swaths of Iraq and Syria.

On Tuesday, Turkey blamed Islamic State militants for a suicide bombing that killed at least 32 people and wounded more than 100.

US officials have pressed Turkey for months to gain access to Incirlik Air Base because of its proximity to Syria, which shares an 800-kilometre border with Turkey. The US-led air campaign has instead relied on launching airstrikes from aircraft carriers and other bases in the region.

Erdogan’s willingness to host warplanes at Incirlik brings US military jets closer to the fight and will shorten the time between an airstrike being called in and a target being hit, US officials have said.

The Pentagon currently lacks an effective partner on the ground in Syria and is not in close communication with any militia group. The US has begun training and equipping moderate Syrian rebels as a future ground force that may one day have the ability to call in US air support.

Turkey has been hesitant to become too directly involved in the US-led effort against Islamic State. Up until now, it has offered Incirlik to host only unarmed US drones.

Turkey’s Zaman newspaper cited unnamed sources yesterday saying that there are six US Predator drones at Incirlik and that two will be armed with Hellfire air-to-surface missiles. The newspaper reported that Turkish warplanes would not participate in the campaign.

Turkish officials have been concerned about the close collaboration between the US-led air operation and Kurdish militias in northern Syria that are fighting Islamic State. The Syrian Kurdish armed faction is known as a proxy of the Kurdistan Workers Party, which has battled Turkey for more than three decades for greater autonomy.

Opening up Incirlik could be an indication that Turkish officials are wary of the possibility of a stepped-up terrorist campaign in Turkey by Islamic State, which is suspected of having cells and sympathisers there.

The Turkish Government has been routinely criticised for not increasing its border security, but the Government denies it has enabled Islamic State militants to move in and out of Syria.

Thousands of refugees fleeing Islamic State have flooded into Turkey in the past year.