Hakan
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Turkish F-16s Said to Patrol Northern Iraq as Militants Advance
Turkish F-16 warplanes and drones have flown over northern Iraq to track the movement of Islamic militants, the Sabah newspaper said. Officials wouldn’t immediately confirm the report.
While Turkey’s air force has often in the past entered Iraqi airspace in response to threats posed by ethnic Kurdish rebels, the Sabah report signals heightened concern in Ankara over the advance of Sunni guerrillas of the Islamic State.
The militants have been holding hostage 49 diplomats, policemen and civilians, most of them Turkish, since they raided Turkey’s consulate in the Iraqi city of Mosul on June 11 at the beginning of a major offensive. Car bombings today in Kirkuk, occupied by forces of the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government, now an ally of Turkey, as the Islamic State advanced toward its front lines, have raised tensions further.
“Turkey is trying to gather intelligence against what it sees as a threat to its economic and energy interests in the region,” Oytun Orhan, an analyst at the Center for Middle Eastern Strategic Studies in Ankara, said by phone today in reference to Kurdish oil shipments via Turkey. “Turkey would support Iraqi Kurdish allies against the Islamic militants, however, the ongoing hostage standoff has seriously tied Turkey’s hands.”
Government, military and intelligence officials met for three hours today to discuss developments in Iraq and the security situation along Turkey’s southern border, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglusaid.
Minorities Flee
The al-Qaeda breakaway group has this week won control of a string of towns and villages in the country’s north forcing tens of thousands of Christians and members of the Yezidi religious minority to flee their homes. The movement, earlier known as the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, today captured the country’s biggest dam near Mosul, according to Iraqi officials.
Turkey’s lira erased its gains following reports of the F-16 flights to trade 0.1 percent lower at 2.1612 per dollar at 2:57 p.m. in Istanbul. The yield on Turkey’s two-year lira notes jumped 8 basis points to 9.28 percent after the news, trimming today’s drop to 19 basis points, or 0.19 percentage point.
Davutoglu said Turkish aid supplies had been dropped in the mountains near Sinjar in northern Iraq, where about 50,000 Yezidis have taken shelter. He did not say whether Turkish aircraft carried out the operation. About 100 Yezidis crossed into Turkey and sought refuge in the border town of Silopi, authorities said.
Turkish F-16s Said to Patrol Northern Iraq as Militants Advance - Bloomberg
Turkish F-16s Said to Patrol Northern Iraq as Militants Advance - Businessweek
