World

Turkish parliament considers authorizing incursions into Iraq, Syria to thwart IS threats

Associated Press
Published | Updated

Turkish soldiers check documents of refugees as thousands of new Syrian refugees from Kobani arrive at the Turkey-Syria border crossing of Yumurtalik near Suruc, Turkey, Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2014. U.S.-led coalition airstrikes targeted Islamic State fighters pressing their offensive against a Kurdish town near the Syrian-Turkish border on Tuesday in an attempt to halt the militants' advance, activists said.(AP Photo/Burhan Ozbilici) (The Associated Press)

Syrian refugees from Kobani arrive at the Turkey-Syria border crossing of Yumurtalik near Suruc, Turkey, Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2014. U.S.-led coalition airstrikes targeted Islamic State fighters pressing their offensive against a Kurdish town near the Syrian-Turkish border on Tuesday in an attempt to halt the militants' advance, activists said. (AP Photo/Burhan Ozbilici) (The Associated Press)

Smokes rise after a mortar shell landed in the south of the city center of Syrian Kurdish town of Kobani, seen from the Turkish side of border as thousands of new Syrian refugees from Kobani arrive in Suruc, Turkey, late Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2014. U.S.-led coalition airstrikes targeted Islamic State fighters pressing their offensive against a Kurdish town near the Syrian-Turkish border on Tuesday in an attempt to halt the militants' advance, activists said.(AP Photo/Burhan Ozbilici) (The Associated Press)

Turkey's parliament is considering a motion that would give the government new powers to launch military operations in Syria and Iraq and allow foreign forces to make incursions from its territory.

Parliament previously approved operations into Iraq and Syria to attack Kurdish separatists or thwart threats from the Syrian regime but Thursday's motion expands those powers to address threats from the Islamic State militants who control large swaths of Iraq and Syria, in some places up to the Turkish border.

Turkey's government is still vague about how it will support the US-led coalition against the militants.

But President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called for the creation of a buffer zone and a no-fly zone to secure Turkey's borders and stem the flow of refugees.