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.
