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Turkey calls for emergency Nato meeting to discuss Isil and PKK

Nato ambassadors will meet on Tuesday to discuss security at the request of Turkey after last week's suicide bombing

Turkish solders wait at a check point in Diyarbakir on July 26, 2015 following the death of two Turkish soldiers.
Turkish solders wait at a check point in Diyarbakir, on high alert after the death of two Turkish soldiers Credit: Photo: AFP/Getty

Turkey has called for an emergency Nato meeting on Tuesday to discuss security after Ankara stepped up its response to Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) and Kurdish opposition forces with continued air strikesca over the weekend.

All 28 Nato allies will meet on Tuesday in Brussels after Ankara made the request under article 4 of the Nato treaty, when "the territorial integrity, political independence or security of any of the parties is threatened".

Turkey could ask its Nato allies for military assistance in the fight against Isil or call for the establishment of a "safe zone" in northern Syria. Reports suggested that Ankara could ask for surveillance aircraft to provide assistance on its Syrian border.

Turkish PM Ahmet Davutoglu said he would not send ground troops into Syria but agreed with the US on the need to provide air cover for "moderate" Syrian rebels fighting Islamic State.

Although Britain cannot be forced to take action by Nato, Prime Minister David Cameron, who has spoken of the need to tackle Isil, would politically be in a very difficult position to refuse.

Left-wing militants protect themselves as Turkish anti-riot police fires water cannon to disperse a demonstration in Istanbul's Gazi district, on July 26, 2015. Left-wing militants protect themselves as Turkish anti-riot police fires water cannon to disperse a demonstration in Istanbul's Gazi district, on July 26, 2015.

Left-wing militants protect themselves as Turkish anti-riot police fires water cannon to disperse a demonstration in Istanbul's Gazi district (AFP/Getty)

"Turkey requested the meeting in view of the seriousness of the situation after the heinous terrorist attacks in recent days, and also to inform allies of the measures it is taking," Nato said in a statement.

"Nato allies follow developments very closely and stand in solidarity with Turkey."

The crisis began last Monday when a suspected Isil suicide bomber blew himself up at a cultural centre in south-eastern Turkey, killing 32 mainly Kurdish youth activists who were intending to ferry aid to the Syrian Kurdish enclave of Kobane six miles away across the border.

Interactive: SyriaTurkey

Kurds immediately rounded on the government, blaming its laxity in patrolling the 500-mile border with Syria. The PKK, the outlawed Kurdish separatist group, have since claimed responsibility for a series of revenge attacks which killed three policemen in separate incidents.

On Saturday, two Turkish soldiers were killed and four others wounded when a car bomb struck their convoy in the Kurdish-majority province of Diyarbakir.

The attack occurred when an armoured military vehicle was travelling to Lice district to subdue Kurdish protesters in the area, according to Turkish state media. It added that "security forces have launched a wide-scale investigation to find the perpetrators".

It was accompanied by another attack on a police station in Diyarbakir that caused no injuries.

More than 20 people were killed and dozens wounded in an explosion in the southeastern Turkish town of Suruc near the Syrian border More than 20 people were killed and dozens wounded in an explosion in the southeastern Turkish town of Suruc near the Syrian border

The explosion in Suruc earlier in July left 32 dead and scores injured

In addition to launching air strikes against Isil and PKK positions in Syria and northern Iraq, Ankara has detained hundreds of people with suspected links to both groups.

On Sunday Turkish jets again pounded PKK targets in northern Iraq. PKK previously described the first round of strikes on Friday as effectively ending the two-year ceasefire with the group.

Turkish F-16 fighter jets hit targets in Hakurk, northern Iraq, which had taken off from the air base in Diyarbakir, Turkish security sources told Reuters.

Prime minister Ahmet Davutoglu, who has said the operations will continue as long as Turkey faces a threat, discussed security with UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon in a telephone call over the weekend.

The US has backed Turkey's air strikes against the PKK, saying it "has a right to take action".

The PKK has been fighting Turkey for autonomy since 1984 and is also considered a terrorist organisation by Ankara.

Syrian/Turkish relations: A timeline
Turkey is being dragged further into the four-year conflict in neighbouring Syria following a deadly suicide attack, blamed on Isil, that killed 32 activists near the border.
September 13, 2011
"The Syrian people do not believe al-Assad, I do not either," says Recep Tayyip Erdogan, then premier, a few months after calling the Syrian leader his "friend". Mr Erdogan warns of civil war in Syria.
October 2, 2011
Following a series of meetings in several Turkish cities, Syrian opposition leaders announce the creation of the Syrian National Council (SNC), which groups political factions opposed to the Assad regime.
November 15, 2011
Turkey passes its first sanctions against Syria, and halts joint oil exploration with the country.
June 22, 2012
A Turkish plane that Ankara says was on a training mission in international airspace is shot down by Syrian forces.
May 11, 2013
Twin attacks kill 52 people in Reyhanli, a large Turkish town near the border with Syria.
September 16, 2014
Isil militants attack the Syrian border town of Kobane, and seize parts of it. Kobane becomes the scene of fierce battles.
May 16, 2015
Turkey says it has shot down a Syrian helicopter that violated its airspace.
July 20, 2015
At least 32 people die when a suspected Isil suicide bomber attacks a gathering of activists in the town of Suruc, near the Syrian/Turkish border.
July 22, 2015
The Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) claims the killing of two Turkish policemen in the border town of Ceylanpinar in revenge for the Suruc massacre.A government spokesman denounces the murders as "a terrorist act perpetrated by a terrorist organisation."
July 23, 2015
Jihadists inside Syria open fire on a Turkish army border post in the Kilis region, killing a non-commissioned officer and wounding two soldiers. In Diyarbakir, a majority Kurdish city in south-eastern Turkey, gunmen kill a Turkish policeman and seriously wound another.
July 24, 2015
Turkish F-16 jets hit Isil targets just inside Syria for the first time, killing nine Isil militants. Late in the day, airstrikes also target PKK militants in northern Iraq.
July 25, 2015
Turkish air strikes intensify against Isil jihadists in Syria and PKK militants in Iraq.
July 26, 2015
Ankara launches F-16 attacks for the third day, striking Kurdish command posts in northern Iraq. Turkish protesters battle security forces in Istanbul, a policeman is shot and killed. Turkey asks for an extraordinary Nato meeting to discuss its cross-border offensive, but has not asked for help, the group's chief says.
July 27, 2015
Turkish tanks pound a Kurdish-held village in northern Syria, wounding at least four fighters and several villagers, Kurdish groups and a Syrian monitor say, while a Turkish official maintains the army is not targeting Syrian Kurds.