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 Turkey requested urgent consultations with its 27 NATO allies in
Brussels after stepping up its role in the U.S.-led fight against
Islamic State with air strikes, also hitting Kurdistan Workers Party
(PKK) camps in Iraq at the weekend.
"We stand in strong solidarity with our ally Turkey," NATO Secretary
General Jens Stoltenberg told alliance ambassadors at the start of a
meeting he called right and timely "to address instability on
Turkey's doorstep and on NATO's border".
In the run-up, both NATO and Turkey played down any idea that the
military alliance might provide air or ground support for Turkey's
dramatic change in strategy, but Erdogan suggested otherwise at a
news conference before leaving for China.
Turkey had "come under attack", he said of a suspected Islamic State
suicide bombing killed 32 mostly young students last week in the
Turkish town of Suruc on the border with Syria.
NATO rules provide for mutual support if an ally comes under attack,
although Turkey has not invoked Article 5 of the North Atlantic
treaty which requires allied nations to consider military action.
 "If a NATO member country comes under attack, NATO would support it
in every way," Erdogan said.
"At the moment, Turkey has come under attack and is exercising its
right to defend itself and will exercise this right until the end...
but what we're saying is that there could be a duty for NATO, and we
ask NATO to be prepared for this."
The meeting of ambassadors was held under Article 4 of the treaty,
which permits a member of the alliance to ask for consultations with
other allies when it feels its security is threatened. Ankara twice
invoked this article in 2012 to ask for consultations with its NATO
allies over the Syria conflict, notably after an aerial clash with
Damascus.
'NO PEACE PROCESS' WITH KURDS
While Turkey is now taking an active role in the fight against
Islamic State militants after years of ambiguity over support for
jihadi fighters in Syria, Erdogan's policy shift comes together with
an assault on Kurdish groups that enjoy some sympathy in the West,
particularly in Europe.
Erdogan said it was impossible to continue a peace process with
Kurdish militants who claimed responsibility for the killing of two
Turkish police officers in what they said was retaliation for the
killing of the young students.
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"It is not possible for us to continue the peace process with those
who threaten our national unity and brotherhood," Erdogan said.
Beyond NATO's political endorsement, the United States, the dominant
power in the alliance, has made some concessions by pledging to work
with Turkey to create a safe zone inside Syria for displaced persons
from the civil war that should relieve some of the refugee pressure
on Ankara.
Erdogan said that should pave the way for the return of some 1.7
million refugees from Turkey to Syria.
European allies, who need Turkey's help to combat jihadi fighters
returning to Europe, are likely to look for ways to make clear at
the same time they don't want Erdogan to abandon several years of a
domestic peace process which they supported.
That entailed giving Turkey's own Kurdish population more cultural
rights with the prospect, over time, of greater autonomy in the
southeastern regions where they constitute a majority.
The European Commission expressed support for Turkey's right to
self-defense against "terrorism" on Monday while stressing the need
"to keep the settlement process with the Kurdish people on track".
(Additional reporting by Philip Blenkinsop and Alex Saeedy in
Brussels, Tulay Karadeniz in Ankara, and Humeyra Pamuk in Istanbul;
Editing by Paul Taylor)
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