No Australia role in air strikes over Syria: Sir Peter Cosgrove
Australia will continue to support a struggling Iraq with military assistance out of its Middle East base rather than turn attention to Syria despite the new Turkish-American deal that has opened up two strategic airfields in south east Turkey.
The Governor-general Sir Peter Cosgrove said the security of Turkish borders with Syria was a matter for Turkey, and confirmed that Australia’s focus was very much on Iraq.
Last week Turkey agreed to allow the US to launch Syrian air strikes from bases at Incirlik and Diyarbakir, a much shorter strike distance providing a strategic advantage.
When asked if Australia would have a role to play in using Turkey’s facilities, Mr Cosgrove said: “I think you can see from our present deployments we have carefully gone into a mode with which we are familiar. We have a relationship with Iraq, an Iraq that struggles now, and I think it is quite proper we are supporting Iraq with their particular problem. Turkey is a great nation and they are able to secure their own borders and that is a matter for Turkey.’’
He added: “On issues to do with cooperation about terrorist access through Turkey, those arrangements the government has made are very important to the Turks as well.’’
Just before Anzac Day Prime Minister Tony Abbott negotiated for the Turks to intercept Australian fighters seeking to enter Syria and agreed to tackle terrorist financing.
But Mr Cosgrove, who met with Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan earlier this week said Turkey faced the most unstable border possible with Syria and suggested Australia would maintain a critical role in the fight against Islamic State.
”While it is profoundly a problem for the Turks we must do whatever we can to support peaceful outcomes and peaceful outcomes obviously means there is no longer all of these atrocities happening across Turkey’s border,’’ Mr Cosgrove said.
He said there was enormous goodwill between “the leadership of Turkey and the political leadership of Australia’’ and noted that all Australians should feel for Turkey when they are trying to cope with two million refugees.
THE AUSTRALIAN