Turkey refrained from becoming part of a group of countries and international organizations that pledged support to the central government in Baghdad in its fight against the threat of the radical Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) during an international conference on Iraq’s peace and security conference in Paris, the private Cihan news agency reported.

Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu attended the international counter-terrorism conference along with the five UN Security Council (UNSC) permanent members, a number of European and Arab countries and representatives from the European Union, Arab League and United Nations hosted in Paris on Monday.

All the attendants except Turkey pledged to help the Baghdad government in its fight against ISIL. The main agenda of the meeting was about providing military support to the government of Baghdad against ISIL. But Çavuşoğlu did not offer any kind of support to Baghdad during the conference, according to Cihan.

During the meetings, the Turkish delegation in Paris reportedly emphasized that the fight against ISIL is not only in Iraq — it is also a threat in Syria — and pointed out that as long as President Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria is in power, the threat of ISIL will continue.

Turkish diplomats informed their counterparts in the meeting about a “no-entry” list that consists of 6,000 individuals from Europe and elsewhere who are linked to radical groups. So far, the Turkish diplomats said, 1,000 of them have been extradited.

Turkey also recently refused to sign a communiqué that supports an international campaign against ISIL in Jeddah. At the counter-terrorism meeting, Saudi Arabia, other Gulf states, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan and Lebanon agreed to cooperate against ISIL, take steps to stop foreign fighters going to Iraq and Syria and funds going to ISIL, provide humanitarian aid and contribute to different aspects of the military campaign.

While the Arab allies signed the final communiqué, NATO ally Turkey did not.

Turkey was reportedly asked during these meetings to seal its borders to prevent foreign fighters from coming and going into Syria through its territory and to take measures to prevent oil smuggling.

Source: Zaman.com