World News
NATO Backs Turkey Fighting Islamic State with Air Attacks
Smoke rises in the sky after a NATO air strike in Tripoli
BRUSSELS – Turkey has been given full political support from NATO in fighting militants in Syria and Iraq at an emergency meeting on Tuesday but several nations urged Ankara not to undermine the Kurdish peace process by using excessive military force.
Following a 90-minute meeting in Brussels, Turkey won the backing it sought for stepping up its role in the U.S.-led fight against Islamic State with air strikes.
Ankara made no request to its 27 allies for military help and NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg noted that it had the second-largest army in the alliance.
Instead, the meeting heard how Turkey was carrying out President Tayyip Erdogan’s sudden change in strategy against Islamic State — an al Qaeda breakaway that controls swathes of Syria and Iraq — and Kurdish militants based in Iraq.
“We all stand united in condemning terrorism, in solidarity with Turkey,” Stoltenberg told a news conference.
