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Erdogan’s Turkey: unwilling ally in struggle against Islamic State

Given Turkey's reluctance, what will be the chances of success for the "coalition" against the Islamic State?
Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan arrives for a dinner at Cardiff Castle, in Wales September 4, 2014. The two day NATO summit is taking place at the Celtic Manor resort, near Newport.    REUTERS/Andrew Winning (BRITAIN  - Tags: MILITARY POLITICS)   - RTR44ZGP

“In the fight against ISIS, the Western world will be able to see whether Turkey will be promoted from an ally to a friend or to be kept, still, as an intelligence target,” I concluded in my Al-Monitor article on Sept. 4, at the start of the NATO summit in Wales. 

In the wake of the summit, how Turkey will act in terms of the coalition that US President Barack Obama promised to form is still unclear. Despite being a NATO ally, Turkey is not counted on as a backbone or a staunch member of such a coalition, given its closeness to the Islamic State (IS) that has been prioritized as a target by the Wales summit and by the US administration.

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