Turkey votes to join war against Islamic State

The Turkish parliament approved a motion on Thursday enabling the government to authorise cross-border military incursions into Iraq and Syria to battle Islamic State militants, although there was little sign that such action was imminent.

The motion, approved by a three-quarters majority, also allows foreign soldiers to be stationed in Turkey and to use its military bases for the same purposes.

Ankara has come under pressure to play a more robust role in the US-led military campaign against Islamic State after the insurgents advanced to within clear sight of Turkish military positions on the Syrian border.

But President Tayyip Erdogan insists that US-led airstrikes alone will not contain the threat and is calling for the removal of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, an aim not shared by the US-led military coalition.

Ankara is also reluctant to take action that may strengthen Kurdish fighters allied to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), a militant group that has fought the Turkish state for three decades and with which it is conducting fragile peace talks.

Kurdish fighters known as the People's Defence Units are battling the Islamic State insurgents in northern Syria. The PKK is designated a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States and the European Union. – (Reuters)