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Turkey moving from reluctant partner to embarrassed ally

Ankara is finding it increasingly difficult to define its position in the fight between its NATO allies and the Islamic State.
Turkey's Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu (R) walks with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry at the prime minister's office in Ankara September 12, 2014. Kerry met Turkish leaders on Friday to try to win support for U.S.-led military action against Islamic State, but Ankara's reluctance to play a frontline role showed the difficulty of building a coalition for a regional war. REUTERS/Brendan Smialowski/Pool (TURKEY - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR460SV

Turkey is gradually moving from a reluctant NATO ally toward an embarrassing or embarrassed partner in the fight against the Islamic State (IS, also known as ISIS). As The Daily Beast reported, “With [IS] on its doorstep, the Turkish government balks at support for Obama’s strategy.

"A diplomatic crisis looms. Turkey, a key US ally and the only NATO member that borders areas controlled by [IS] jihadists in Syria and Iraq, is in a prime location to hit the extremists next door. But it prefers not to.

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