Americas...:CIA: Fighting ’ISIL’ Not A Turkish Priority

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United States intelligence Chief James Clapper declared that Turkey does not place a high priority on fighting "ISIL" militants and as a result foreign fighters were able to travel through the country into Syria.

Asked if he was optimistic that Turkey would take a more active role in the war against "ISIL", Clapper told senators: "No, I'm not."
"I think Turkey has other priorities and other interests," he was quoted as having told the Senate Armed Services Committee.

According to the director of national intelligence, the Turkish government was more concerned with Kurdish opposition and the country's economy.

Clapper declared that "Public opinion polls show in Turkey they don't see "ISIL" as a primary threat".

Moreover, he added that the effect of Turkey's approach was to allow a "permissive" climate for foreign recruits heading to Syria to take arms for "ISIL".
"And of course, the consequence of that is a permissive environment... because of their laws and the ability of people to travel through Turkey en route to Syria," Clapper said.

"So somewhere in the neighborhood of 60 percent of those foreign fighters find their way to Syria through Turkey."
Clapper mentioned some other governments in the Middle East had been reluctant to join the US-led coalition against "ISIL".

But the "brutal savagery" of "ISIL", including the beheadings of hostages and the immolation of a captured Jordanian fighter pilot, "have had a galvanizing effect on opinion in the Mideast region," he said.

Clapper's comments come a week after the United States and Turkey signed a deal to train and equip Syrian opposition forces.

Turkey, known for its opposition to Damascus, wanted so-called "moderate rebel factions" to be trained.
The comments also come after three teenage British girls had crossed into Syria through Turkey in order to join "ISIL".

Trying to shift blame from his nation's porous borders that Takfiris had long taken advantage as the premier route to fight in Syria, Turkish Deputy Prime Minister and government spokesman Bulent Arinc declared that the UK was at fault.

"It is a reprehensible act for Britain, a country famous for its Scotland Yard, to let the three girls...leave Heathrow airport (London) for Istanbul and then let us know three days later," Arinc said, claiming they were notified three days after the girls arrived in Istanbul.

Arinc's complaints echo similar remarks made by Turkish officials after Hayat Boumeddiene, the wanted partner of one of the gunmen behind the January terror attacks in France, traveled undetected through Turkey on her way to Syria.
In that case, Ankara accused the French authorities of failing to share information in a timely manner about the wanted woman's departure for Turkey.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team