PKK issue complicates Turkey’s role in fight against IS

On Sept. 10, US President Barack Obama will outline his administration’s plans for fighting the Islamic State (IS). His secretary of defense, Chuck Hagel, was in Ankara Sept. 9 to see what role Turkey could take in this US-led coalition of the willing against IS militants in Iraq. Although the Turkish side refrained from making any clear public commitment to this coalition, it agreed to be part of it in principle. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu stressed that Turkish officials are worried about a potential backlash that could cost the lives of 49 Turkey’s Mosul consulate hostages held by IS militants since June 11, and are also concerned about Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) members acquiring more weapons.

"The weapons sent [to Iraq] should not end up in the hands of terrorist organizations. They should not end up in the hands of the PKK," Cavusoglu said Sept. 9 in an interview with the state-run Anatolia news agency.

"We expressed our concerns" during last week's NATO summit in Wales, Cavusoglu said, with a warning. "The Iraqi Security Force is 95% composed of one sect. Therefore, it may not be possible to control where these weapons will go. If there will be any kind of support, all of these components should be thought about critically and acted upon accordingly."

Hagel, while avoiding mention of the Shiite factor in the Iraqi army and Turkey’s implied concern about a more influential Iran, stressed that the Turks expressed concern in the meetings about the PKK turning out to be a beneficiary in the fight against IS. “But they didn't indicate to me in any way that they saw the PKK as a more significant threat to them than [IS],” he said. “The concerns they have, as I said, not unlike many of our concerns about arming any group of individuals, are always legitimate. And that's why we are so careful in who we provide armaments to.”