NATO head: Alliance will defend Turkey from Islamic State

NATO must be ready to step in and defend member state Turkey if it is attacked by Islamic State, alliance's new Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Wednesday.

Fighting is currently edging toward the Turkish border with widespread clashes between Syrian Kurdish fighters and Islamic State reported in recent days.

"Our responsibility, the basic responsibility, is to stand up and be very clear that we are going to protect Turkey, that collective defence, Article 5, is something which is also going to be applied if Turkey is in any way attacked," Stoltenberg told reporters during his first press conference as the new NATO chief.

Article 5 of the NATO treaty is a mutual self-defence clause that compels members to act if a member state is attacked. This justification has been used only once after the September 11 terrorist attacks when the article was invoked to justify NATO attacks on Afghanistan.

The US – backed by five Arab coalition partners – launched aerial strikes on IS targets in Syria last week, while the Americans, French, Dutch and now British are continuing a bombing campaign against the militant group in Iraq that began in August.

Ankara originally shied away from joining the coalition, citing concerns about 46 Turkish hostages being held by the militants. However, the hostages have since been released and Turkey is now due to debate joining the US-led coalition in a closed door session tomorrow.

In a keynote speech to Parliament, Turkish President Recep Erdogan on Wednesday appeared to move closer to backing some kind of intervention.

"It is not possible that we would tolerate any terrorist organisation - neither in our territories, nor in the region and the world,” Erdogan said in a keynote speech.

Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç on Tuesday also suggested that Turkey was mulling a wide range of options, including opening up its air bases to coalition planes, helping to enforce a no-fly zone over northern Syria, and even sending in ground troops to help roll back IS.

Erdogan also called for a more holistic approach, rather than simply backing the US strikes.

"A decisive struggle with all terrorist groups in the region should be provided, and Turkey's proposals and warnings should be taken into account otherwise, tons of bombs that would be dropped from the air would only delay the threat and the danger," Erdogan said.

Erdogan had previously suggested that Turkey would "give the necessary support to the [US-led] operation” saying that the support could be military or logistical, but the extent of Turkish involvement remained unclear.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jafari gave a press conference in Baghdad on Wednesday in which he stressed that Iraq was not in need of more troops.

“We are not seeking to violate the sovereignty of neighbouring countries, and we don’t want anyone to violate the sovereignty of our country,” he said, while adding that Iraq was not in need of more troops, but was looking for more weapons and logistical support.