WASHINGTON DC – The Turkish government is more concerned with its Kurdish opposition than in fighting the war against the Islamic State (ISIS), US intelligence chief James Clapper said.
"I think Turkey has other priorities and other interests," Clapper told the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday, answering questions about whether Ankara was expected to take a more active role against ISIS, the extremist group also known as ISIL.
Clapper, the director of National Intelligence, said Turkey was more concerned with its Kurdish opposition and the economy than fighting ISIS, the terrorist group that controls a third of Iraq and as much of Syria.
“They are more focused on what they consider to be a threat with the Kurdish resistance in Turkey,” he explained.
Turkey is an important NATO member and recently signed an agreement with the United States to train and arm “moderate” rebel forces in Syria. But it has been internationally criticized for turning a blind eye to ISIS, letting militants use its territory to get fighters into Syria and smuggle goods and oil out.
"Public opinion polls show in Turkey they don't see ISIL as a primary threat," Clapper said, adding that meant a “permissive” climate that allowed foreign ISIS recruits to get to jihads in Syria and Iraq through Turkey.
“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,” he said. “So somewhere in the neighborhood of 60 percent of those foreign fighters find their way to Syria through Turkey,” he added.
Clapper added that ISIS had suffered heavy losses in the battlefield, especially in the Syrian Kurdish town of Kobane, where Kurdish fighters and US air strikes drove out the militants last month.
Clapper testified that in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul ISIS was struggling with supplying electricity and other services.
“They do not have enough financial wherewithal to provide the services, municipal services that are required to run a city of a million people," he said. "We're seeing signs of electricity outages, shortages of food and commodities."
