Turkey renews OK for military operations in Syria, Iraq

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The Associated Press

A handout picture taken and released on August 8, 2015 by the Turkish Prime Minister Press office shows, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu looking through binoculars during his visit to a military base at the Syrian border in Kilis city. AFP PHOTO/ TURKISH PRIME MINISTER PRESS OFFICE / HAKAN GOKTEPE RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE – MANDATORY CREDIT “AFP PHOTO / TURKISH PRIME MINISTER PRESS OFFICE / HAKAN GOKTEPE” – NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS – DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS

ISTANBUL — Turkey’s state-run news agency says parliament has extended by another year a motion allowing cross-border military operations into Syria and Iraq against Kurdish militants and the Islamic State group.

The resolution, first passed in 2014, was renewed on Saturday, the first and only item on the parliament’s agenda on the first day of the new legislative year. The state-run Anadolu Agency says it will remain in force until October 30, 2017.

The pro-Kurdish People’s Democracy Party voted against the bill, while the other three parties in parliament approved it.

Turkey sent troops and tanks into Syria in August to help Syrian opposition rebels re-take Islamic State group strongholds near the border and curb the advance of Syrian Kurdish militia, which are affiliated with Turkey’s outlawed Kurdish rebels.

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