The Heat: Turkey declares war on ISIL with airstrikes

The Heat

A man is detained by Turkish police during a protest condemning the deadly bombing by Islamic State (IS) militants, in Ankara, on July 27, 2015. Tensions across the country are high, with police routinely using water cannon to disperse nightly protests in Istanbul and other cities denouncing IS and the government’s policies on Syria. Turkey has launched a two-pronged “anti-terror” cross-border offensive against Islamic State (IS) jihadists and Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants after a wave of violence in the country, pounding their positions with air strikes and artillery. But the expansion of the campaign to include not just IS targets in Syria but PKK rebels in neighbouring northern Iraq — themselves bitterly opposed to the jihadists — has put in jeopardy a truce with the Kurdish militants that has largely held since 2013. AFP PHOTO / ADEM ALTAN

Turkey has remained relatively silent in the global fight against ISIL, the so-called Islamic State. A bomb blast recently at the border town of Suruc led Turkey to start an air campaign against ISIL in Syria. The situation is not without controversy in the country and in the region. CCTV’s Natalie Carney covered the latest details on this story from Istanbul.
Follow Natalie Carney on Twitter @NatalieCarney77

For more on Turkey’s airstrike against ISIL, CCTV’s Mike Walter spoke with following guests:

  • Cale Salih, from Oxford, is a visiting fellow to the European Council on Foreign Relations focusing on the Kurdish people.
  • Daniel Serwer is a professor in conflict management at Johns Hopkins University.
  • Tulin Daloglu from Ankara is a Turkish journalist and opinion writer.
  • Joshua Walker is a transatlantic fellow at the German Marshall Fund, a non-partisan U.S. think tank.