ANKARA, Turkey, Sept. 30 (UPI) -- Turkey has said it will play a more active role in fighting the Islamic State, and discussions on the level of its involvement are underway.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was consulted by U.S. President Barack Obama and Vice president Joe Biden while attending the United Nations General Assembly last week, and returned home announcing Turkey, a NATO member, was prepared to get involved in fighting IS. Whether Turkey will commit to joining the U.S.-led coalition will be undertaken by the Parliament Thursday. IS militants have taken control of parts of Syria and Iraq, and Turkey's border with the two countries is nearly 800 miles long. Nearly 200,000 Kurdish refugees have escaped from the fighting by streaming into Turkey, as have over a million people fleeing from the nearly four-year civil war in Syria.