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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday indicated that Turkey’s will play a more active part in the international coalition against extremist group Islamic State (IS), following the release of several Turkish hostages nabbed by the group. For the past few months, Turkey has frustrated global powers with its rather inactive participation in the coalition, but it has insisted that it could do nothing until the fate of the hostages was known.
The Turkish hostages included children and Turkish diplomats, who were kidnapped from the Turkish consulate in Iraq’s second city Mosul back in June. They were released last weekend, reportedly after secret negotiations between the extremists and the Turkish secret service – around 50 extremists have reportedly been released as a part of the deal.
“Now the position has changed. What follows will be much different”, Erdogan said after returning to Istanbul from an official trip to the US, where he met Vice President Joe Biden.
Erdogan also said that “necessary steps” will be taken by the Turkish parliament on October 2nd; he did not mention the exact nature of any action. The Turkish parliament will convene on the date to consider extending the breadth of its existing mandates that allow the government to employ military force in Iraq and Syria.
Erdogan said that Turkey has a responsibility to the world and can’t be a “bystander” as the US leads the global coalition.
“We, as Muslims, should do our best. If the Christian world takes such a step on an issue that hurts the conscience of humanity we will not remain a bystander. Our religion Islam is a religion of peace, brotherhood and unity. Our religion does not allow the killing of innocent people”, he said, adding that the IS’ actions were “casting a shadow” on Islam.
Erdogan reiterated calls for buffer zones and no-fly zones, but did not spell out how they will be implemented.