News Analysis: Turkey intends to be more involved in fight against IS

Turkey has clearly voiced its intention to involve more in fighting against the Islamic State (IS) militants group amid growing chaos in the region, analysts said here on Friday.

"It's very clear that Turkey demanded to be listened more in the region and asked the United States not to make substantial changes in their policy on Syria without Ankara's permission," said political analyst Megmet Yegin at International Strategic Research Organization.

Analysts made the remarks after Turkish and U.S. high-profile delegates on Tuesday and Wednesday held a meeting discussing threats posed by the IS in Syria and Iraq.

The meeting came as Turkey reinforced its military presence at the Turkish-Syrian border last week, accompanied by local media reports of a possible Turkish intervention in Syria.

Turkey has been strengthening its position in the border area against the IS's advances and against the formation of a Kurdish ruled canton in northern Syria.

Experts told Xinhua that the situation in the region is getting more chaotic and to find equilibrium among interests of disputed parties is getting more problematic.

Salih Bicakci, academician in Kadir Has University, told Xinhua that there are too many actors playing on the ground in the region.

"We see a repetition of an Afghanistan war. There are Russia, Iran, Turkey, and the United States looking after their interests," he said.

Meanwhile, Bicakci said the main deadlock between Ankara and Washington is the toppling down of Syrian President Bashar Assad and his regime.

The U.S. anti-terror coalition fighting against IS has already shown signals that the negotiation with Assad regime would be possible. However, Ankara strongly refuses to sit down at the negotiation table with Assad.

Assad has started to cooperate both with Russia, Iran and China and strengthened his alliance with Hezbollah, Bicakci said, stressing that Turkey in its overall foreign policy should be more flexible on Assad issue.

"There are no white and black in international politics. Ankara has to find a way to cope with all kind of colors," said experts, arguing that Turkey should develop policies while taking into consideration that Assad regime will continue to be in power.

During the last meeting between the United States and Turkey, Washington repeated its request on opening the Incirlik air base in southern Turkey for the coalition countries to expand their air strikes over IS positions.

Turkey is hesitant to allow U.S. military aircraft's use of its Incirlik Airbase to launch airstrikes into Syria before an agreement is declared and a no-fly zone and safe havens are available in Syria so that Syrian rebels would be protected from regime forces.

However, the U.S. abstained from this bold move, stressing tremendous risks and requirements for sophisticated and challenging logistical tasks.

Another thorny issue that remained on the table was about the flow of Syrian refugees into Turkey.

Currently, Turkey hosts almost 2 million of Syrian refugees, and experts said that the unofficial number has probably hit 3 million.

"Turkey is finished... It is done... The country cannot get over another flow of refugees," analyst Yegin said, adding that not only Turkey but Jordan and Lebanon face the same problem.

Moreover, experts warned that Turkey is losing its control over the advances of the IS in the region amid the growing chaos.

"Turkey has already become a serious transition hub for those who want to join DAES (IS) from all over the world," Bicakci said.

He also underlined the increasing number of Turkish people who join IS each day, adding that "Turkey has lost its control in that sense." Endit