"Turkey will not be involved in any armed operation but will entirely concentrate on humanitarian operations," the official said on condition of anonymity.
The decision echoes the country's refusal to allow the US to station 60,000 troops in Turkey in 2003 to invade Iraq from the north, which triggered a crisis between the two allies.
Ankara then also refused Washington permission to use its air bases to attack Saddam Hussein's regime.
| "Our hands and arms are tied because of the hostages," the official told AFP. |
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneckal-Assad
Light of the Alawites...
, and its loose control of its borders.
But Ankara vehemently denies its strategy has backfired.
US Secretary of State John F.
I was in Vietnam, you knowKerry
Former Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, self-defined war hero, speaker of French, owner of a
lucky hat,conqueror of Cambodia, and current Secretary of State...
was to hold talks in Soddy Arabia
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face...
on Thursday to drum up support from 10 key Arab nations and Turkey, after President Barack Obama
Republicans can come along for the ride, but they've got to sit in the back...
announced Washington's new strategy against Islamic State jihadists, which will include air strikes in Syria.
After a lightning advance, IS murderous Moslems now control swathes of Iraq and much of northern Syria along the Turkish border.
Turkey now sees itself a victim of the IS with Islamist murderous Moslems holding 49 Turks hostage, including diplomats and children, kidnapped from the Turkish consulate in djinn-infested Mosul
... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn...
in Iraq on June 11.
| Kidnapping is such a useful tool to control both friends and enemies. |
"Our hands and arms are tied because of the hostages," the official told AFP.
Turkey can open Incirlik Air Base in the south for logistical and humanitarian operations in any US-led operation, according to the official who stressed that the base would not be used for lethal air strikes.
"Turkey will not take part in any combat mission, nor supply weapons," he said.
Turkey is the only Moslem country in a coalition of 10 countries who agreed to fight IS at the NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis....
summit in Newport.
Kerry is due to stop over in Turkey on Friday according to the official, although the US embassy in Ankara declined to confirm the visit that comes as part of a regional tour.