ISTANBUL: Turkey and Saudi Arabia could launch a ground operation against the militant Islamic State (IS) militants in Syria, while Riyadh is also sending war planes to a Turkish base to fight the extremists, the Turkish foreign minister said Saturday.
“If there is a strategy (against IS) then Turkey and Saudi Arabia could enter into a ground operation,” Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu was quoted as saying by the Yeni Safak and Haberturk newspapers after taking part in the Munich Security Conference.
“Some say ‘Turkey is reluctant to take part in the fight against Daesh (IS)’. But it is Turkey that is making the most concrete proposals,” he said. Cavusoglu added that Saudi Arabia, which has become an increasingly close ally of Turkey in recent months, is also sending planes to the Turkish base of Incirlik to fight IS.
“They (Saudi officials) came, did a reconnaissance of the base. At the moment it is not clear how many planes will come,” Cavusoglu said. Incirlik is a key hub for US-led coalition operations against IS, with planes from Britain, France and the United States carrying out raids inside Syria from the base.
“They (Saudi Arabia) said ‘If necessary we can also send troops’. Saudi Arabia is showing great determination in the fight against terror in Syria,” said the Turkish minister.
Saudi Arabia and Turkey both see the ousting of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as essential for ending Syria’s five-year insurgency and are bitterly critical of Iran and Russia’s support of the Syrian regime.
Asked if Saudi Arabia could send troops to the Turkish border to enter Syria, Cavusoglu said: “This is something that could be desired but there is no plan. Saudi Arabia is sending planes and they said ‘If the necessary time comes for a ground operation then we could send soldiers’.”
His comments come after President Assad told in an interview published on Friday that he would recapture the whole of Syria and keep “fighting terrorism”.
Turkey’s relations with fellow mainly Sunni power Saudi Arabia have warmed considerably in recent months.
In December, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited Riyadh for talks with King Salman as well as key decision-makers crown prince Mohammed bin Nayef and deputy crown prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Meanwhile, Turkey has also been tightening relations with Qatar, another key opponent of Assad in the Syria conflict.
Erdogan on Friday held several hours of talks in Istanbul with Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, the presidency said, but the contents of the talks was not revealed.
Meanwhile, Turkish artillery shelled areas of Aleppo province in northern Syria held by Kurdish forces, a monitor said.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Turkish artillery struck areas of Aleppo, including Minnigh airbase recently taken by the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) militia from Islamist rebels.
Ankara considers the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) and its YPG militia to be branches of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) which has waged a decades-long insurgency against the Turkish state.
The shelling came shortly after Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Ankara would, if necessary, take military action against the PYD.
“We can if necessary take the same measures in Syria as we took in Iraq and Qandil,” he said in a televised speech.
The premier was referring to Turkey’s bombing campaign last year against PKK targets in their Qandil mountain stronghold in northern Iraq.
A YPG source said that the Turkish shelling targeted the strategic Minnigh airbase, which Kurdish forces retook late on Wednesday.
Turkish media quoted military sources as saying between eight and 10 Saudi jets would be deployed in Incirlik within the coming weeks, with 4 F-16 fighters to arrive in a first wave.
Turkey’s relations with fellow mainly Sunni Muslim power Saudi Arabia have warmed considerably in recent months. Ties had been damaged by Saudi’s role in the 2013 ouster of Egyptian president Morsi, a close ally of Ankara.
Saudi Arabia and Turkey are both staunch supporters of rebels seeking to oust Assad and see his overthrow as essential for ending Syria’s five-year civil war that has cost more than 260,00 lives.
