ISTANBUL
Turkey reiterated to the U.S. on Friday the importance of a safe haven inside Syria and a no-fly zone in order to halt a massive Syrian refugee inflow into its territories where already 1.5 million people have sought refuge.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and U.S. Vice President Joe Biden discussed the terrorist activities of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant both in Syria and Iraq in a phone conversation Friday evening, Turkish presidential sources said.
More than 150,000 Syrians have crossed into Turkey from Kobani town since September 19 fleeing ISIL attacks.
A U.S.-led international coalition conducted airstrikes on ISIL targets in Iraq and Syria, on August 8 and September 20, respectively.
Turkey lists the formation of a UN no-fly zone and safe haven inside Syria among its priorities to be able to tackle terrorist threats to the country.
Turkish parliament accepted a motion on military action in Syria and Iraq to fight any group threatening the country on Thursday.
The motion is not limited to ISIL but includes a range of threats to Turkey’s national security and was combined with another motion on the deployment of Turkish forces in northern Iraq to fight the Kurdish separatist terror group, the PKK. That measure allows military incursions into Syria and Iraq against a threat to Turkey and allows foreign forces to use Turkish territory for possible operations against ISIL.
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