Turkey’s parliament votes to extend mandate for troops in Iraq, Syria
The main opposition CHP announced an hour before the session that it would vote against the motion.
Amid rumors of a Turkish military offensive in northern Syria, the Turkish parliament ratified today a motion that extends the government’s mandate of carrying out cross-border operations in Iraq and Syria for another two years.
In a surprise move an hour before the General Assembly, the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) announced it would vote against the motion. The party, which has 135 deputies in the 583-seat parliament, had voted for the motion last year, and many Ankara pundits thought it would do so again this year.
CHP Chair Kemal Kilicdaroglu, who spoke before the parliamentary session, said several factors — including the request for a two-year mandate unlike previous motions that are limited to 12 months — caused the change in his party’s position.
The motion’s term of 24 months is largely attributed to the government’s desire not to pass the mandate through parliament next year, when it will be focused on elections scheduled for June 2023, particularly if it will call for snap elections.
