Turkish FM set to attend Paris meeting of anti-ISIL coalition

ANKARA

DHA Photo

Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu will attend a high-level meeting of the international community on combating the threat posed by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) on June 2 in Paris.

The Counter-ISIL Coalition Small Group Ministerial meeting will review steps taken by coalition members in the fight against ISIL, as well as developments in Syria and Iraq in this regard, the Foreign Ministry said in a written statement June 1.

Some 24 ministers, together with representatives from top international organizations, will attend the gathering. 

Turkey has insisted on a no-fly zone and secure zones in Syria, but the United States has not moved to implement such areas.

The meeting comes after ISIL militants overran part of the historic Syrian city of Palmyra and blew up the infamous prison complex in the city.

Elsewhere, the Iraqi army and paramilitary forces have massed around Ramadi in a bid to recapture the strategic city from ISIL before it builds up its defenses.

The international community is also stepping up its diplomatic efforts in the region, with U.N. envoy Staffan de Mistura holding talks earlier this month with a wide range of parties involved in the Syrian conflict, including the Syrian government’s envoy to Geneva.

However, the talks were dealt a setback when the key opposition Syrian National Coalition declined to take part, dismissing the negotiations as “unimportant.”

In September 2014, summits in Paris saw officials from around the globe fine-tune a strategy to combat ISIL.

The nations discussed what roles each would play in a U.S.-led coalition, has ultimately struggled to stop the jihadists’ advance despite pounding ISIL targets with more than 3,000 air strikes.