Turkey has agreed to fly air missions against the Islamic State alongside U.S. planes in what Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook called a “significant step forward” on Tuesday.
While Turkey opened up Incirlik air base to U.S. aircraft last month, Turkish and U.S. officials finalized details this week on joining air operations that’ll likely begin in a few days, Cook said in his first press conference since being named Pentagon press secretary in June.
“The fact that Turkey is now going to be flying alongside other coalition aircraft is a significant step forward, one we’ve been waiting for,” Cook said. “That being said, our cooperation with the Turks and the expansion of that cooperation remains a work in progress.”
Cook said the agreement deals only with specific air tasking orders, but that talks to further cooperation between the two countries to defeat the Islamic State are ongoing. Part of the discussions involves securing the border between Turkey and Syria, over which terrorists are able to flow supplies and foreign fighters.
Defense Secretary Ash Carter said last week that securing Turkey’s participation in the air campaign is “only one part of what we need Turkey to do.”
“We do want Turkey to do more in the fight against ISIL,” Carter said, using the administration’s acronym for the Islamic State. “We need them also as a neighbor to this conflict zone, as a long-time NATO ally and a responsible member of the anti-ISIL coalition, to control the border, the long border that they have with both Syria and Iraq, more than it has been controlled over the last year.”
Cook said the U.S. is “on the same page” as Turkey, but also said talks between the two countries have not specifically discussed the creation of a safe zone, despite Turkish officials’ public request for such a place for Syrian refugees.
Responding to media reports, Cook also said there was no indication that Turkish officials tipped off the terrorist group al-Nusra about the location of Syrian fighters trained and equipped by the U.S. government.
