Hagel To Visit Turkey Amid US Push For Coalition Against ISIL

United States Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel is preparing to visit Turkey while Washington is intensifying its push for an international campaign against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) insurgents in Syria and Iraq.

In his remarks during a briefing on Friday, Pentagon Press Secretary Navy Rear Adm. John Kirby said that Hagel will start his international trip this week and visit Wales, Georgia and Turkey.

“Turkey is a key NATO ally. Given its border with Syria and Iraq, [Turkey] shares our deep concerns with the regional threat posed by ISIL,” Kirby told reporters.

In an opinion piece published in The New York Times on Saturday, Kerry said he and Hagel will meet with their European counterparts to enlist support for a coalition to act against ISIL militants on the sidelines of the NATO summit meeting in Wales. "The goal is to enlist the broadest possible assistance," he wrote. Kerry and Hagel will then travel to the Middle East to garner support from countries directly affected by the ISIL threat.

Hagel's Turkey visit is seen as part of the US' search of support from the countries in the region. Turkey will be last stop on Hagel's six-day trip that starts on Wednesday.

ISIL's advance in Iraq and Syria has damaged Turkish interests. Forty-nine Turks -- including the Mosul Consul General Öztürk Yılmaz, special forces soldiers, diplomats and dependents -- were taken hostage on June 11 when ISIL seized the Turkish Consulate General in Mosul. ISIL reportedly broke into the consulate after threatening the diplomats inside with a bomb attack.

NATO recently expressed support for Turkey against the growing threat from ISIL, saying it would take all the necessary steps to defend alliance member Turkey if it were threatened by ISIL fighters, who have made gains in neighboring Iraq and Syria.

"If any of our allies, and in this case of course particularly Turkey, were to be threatened from any source of threat, we will not hesitate to take all steps necessary to ensure effective defense of Turkey or any other ally," Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said on Aug.11.

This visit will mark Hagel's first official trip to Turkey as Pentagon head. Hagel's previous visit to Turkey was cancelled in January, even though his meetings with Turkish officials had already been arranged, and he skipped Turkey in his visit to the region on May.

“Hagel has longstanding relationships with Turkey's leaders, including the newly inaugurated President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the secretary views the upcoming visit as an important opportunity to advance the critical US-Turkey relationship,” Kirby said.

The Turkey-US ties became strained after the corruption probe when pro-government media accused the US ambassador of being behind the investigation and then-Prime Minister Erdoğan threatened to expel the envoy. Bilateral relations then hit a rough patch when freedom of expression and press freedom deteriorated and anti-American and anti-Semitic rhetoric was used by Erdoğan and other Turkish officials. American officials in recent months have been very critical of Erdoğan's remarks, calling on him not to damage Turkey's international standing.The US was also represented at Erdoğan's inauguration ceremony at a charge d'affaires level although Washington denied it was a political message to Turkey.(Cihan/Today's Zaman)