WASHINGTON -United States Military cuts intelligence Cooperation withTurkey over counter terrorism operations against Daesh.
The United States has cut Turkey from the international military coalitionagainst Daesh (ISIS)*, with Turkey no longer receiving intelligence oroperational data on the terrorist group from the coalition’s Combined Air &Space Operations Centre at the Al-Udeid airbase in Qatar, Spiegel hasreportedlink.
According to the German magazine, Turkey’s access to the operationmaterials was cut off by the Pentagon on 9 October, the same day thatTurkey began its incursion into northern Syria following the pullout of UStroops.
Spiegel says the US cut Turkey off from the intelligence data amidcoalition fears that the Turkish military may use the intelligenceinformation, including data accumulated by aircraft, satellites and drones,to plan operations against Kurdish militia forces in northern Syria.According to the outlet, the Pentagon’s step was a ‘slap in the face’ toTurkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
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The US military’s change in policy on data-sharing effectively brought itcloser to that of Germany, who has refrained from passing Bundeswehrintelligence from northern Syria and Iraq to the coalition’s Combined Airand Space Operations Centre out of fear that Turkey could use theinformation for purposes other than the fight against Daesh.
