ANKARA: Turkey is stepping up humanitarian aid to northern Iraq, officials said yesterday, but looks unlikely to get involved in military action against advancing Islamist militants there unless its southern border with Iraq is directly threatened.
Turkey has a 370km border with Iraq and has been alarmed by the advance of Islamic State fighters towards Arbil, capital of the Iraqi Kurdish region which has until now served as a buffer for Turkey against the instability further south.
“Five trucks carrying aid to Iraq have hit the road today and they will go through the Habur border crossing on Sunday,” a senior Turkish official told Reuters, adding that they were carrying food, medicine, blankets and other basic goods.
The aid is destined for the oil city of Kirkuk, Arbil and the town of Dohuk on the Tigris river and will be distributed to members of the ethnic Turkmen and Yazidi minorities and others in need, the official said.
“It is not on our agenda at the moment to airdrop with our own planes,” another Turkish official said, adding Turkey’s most recent aid package two days ago was sent by land to Dohuk.
Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said in an interview on Wednesday that the stability of northern Iraq’s Kurdish region was “very important” to Turkey and that Ankara would do what it could to help the Kurds. Asked if that assistance would go beyond humanitarian aid, Davutoglu said Turkey would “take all measures” to protect its borders but said the priority should be the formation of a new Iraqi government in Baghdad.
REUTERS
