News Analysis: Turkey at crossroads over own role in fight against IS

Turkey is expected to provide backup support like logistic and intelligence during the Mosul operation against the Islamic State (IS) but would lose its credentials, experts said here on Monday.

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu stated several times that Turkey will not involve any close combat with IS militants in Iraq and in Syria. "We will provide support for Mosul but will not become a party to clashes."

"With this decision Turkey will be excluded from the process and dropped from the league," Serdar Erdurmaz, former general staff officer and a lecturer at Hasan Kalyoncu University, told Xinhua.

U.S. was looking for a contractor in fighting against IS. However Turkey made it clear that it is not going to be the one for U.S, Erdurmaz added.

"As Turkey declared that it is not going to involve in close combat with IS militants, U.S. changed its policy in a way that comprehend negotiation with Assad regime in Syria and approve Iranian forces' contribution in fighting against IS in Iraq," he remarked.

In Iraqi town of Tikrit, Iranian forces with 30,000 soldiers have lately achieved significant victories against IS.

According to U.S. authorities, without the support of Iranian forces, Iraqi forces wouldn't be able to achieve that success alone, he pointed out.

"Of course the U.S. has drawbacks. They do not know whether Iranians will be withdrawn from the region or not when the war is over. But if Turkey would accept U.S. requests, U.S. wouldn't allow Iran to be involved," Erdurmaz also emphasized.

In the meantime, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Sunday in a televised interview declared that Washington will "have to negotiate in the end" with Syrian President Bashar al Assad.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu strongly reacted Kerry's statement and said "We have nothing to negotiate with a regime which killed 200,000 people."

However, Erdurmaz noted that the U.S. has no choice but to sit on the table with Assad no matter what Turkey would say.

"The clock is ticking and IS continues its advent," he said, adding "It is apparent that Turkey will be excluded from the process."

Atheel al-Nujaif, governor of the Iraqi province of Mosul, stated on Sunday that Turkey has started training of Iraqi soldiers at various camps, as part of a planned operation to retake Mosul from IS.

However according to Erdurmaz, the train and equip is insufficient to make a score against IS. "The training would be only completed in June. However there is no more time to lose against IS," he added

Iraqi authorities have also pronounced that Turkey will also supply foreign forces with ammunition but this claim hasn't been yet confirmed.

"Turkish officials promised to send weapons to our forces being trained, but did not clarify when, how and what amount of aid will be made," al-Nujaif said.

Hanife Cetin, expert at Center for "International Relations and Strategic Studies remarked that Turkey' support will be limited with the logistic and intelligence support for the coalition forces and Iraqi forces."

Speaking to Xinhua she highlighted that to consider IS as a terrorist organization, limited within a specific region will be a false perception.

"The organization has sleeping cells within Turkey. Ankara, in order to avoid any retaliation from ISIL in the form of terrorist attack within its territory would prefer to stay away from the close combat," she argued. Endit