Turkey calls for NATO meeting on security threats

Turkey has called for a meeting of its NATO allies to discuss threats to its security and its airstrikes targeting the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Syria and the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in Iraq, as Turkey boosts international efforts to gain support for the strikes.
NATO’s secretary general said Ankara has not yet asked for any military support.
The move came as Turkish F-16 jets again took off from the southeastern province of Diyarbakır to attack PKK targets across the border in northern Iraq.
NATO announced that its decision-making body, the North Atlantic Council, will convene July 28 after Ankara invoked the alliance’s Article 4, which allows member states to request a meeting if they feel their territorial integrity or security is under threat.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry said Turkey would inform allies about the airstrikes which followed an ISIL suicide bombing near Turkey’s border with Syria that left 31 people and the attacker dead, as well as an ISIL attack on Turkish forces, which killed a soldier.
Turkey requested the meeting, which includes ambassadors of all 28 member countries, “in view of the seriousness of the situation after the heinous terrorist attacks in recent days,” NATO said.