Real action against Islamic State depends on Ankara

Tony Abbott has done serious, good work in Turkey, in getting the Ankara government to agree to co-operate more closely with Australia on counter-terrorism.

The specific focus will be a more intimate relationship designed to prevent Australians travelling to Iraq and Syria to join Islamic State or Da’ish.

However, despite the Prime Minister’s good work, it is unlikely any of this will translate into real action or make much difference.

This is no criticism of Abbott.

There are real consultative mechanisms here that are new and valuable, among them Australian Federal Police placed as ­liaison officers with Turkish authorities and an annual Australia-Turkey dialogue on counter-terrorism.

But the nub of the matter is whether Turkey will really take any serious action to stop Australians crossing its borders with Iraq and Syria to join Islamic State.

There is no reason to believe that Turkey will do much.

There are two questions: what can it do, and what does it want to do.

A few weeks ago at a security conference in Bangkok, I met a British citizen of Iraqi extraction who travels back and forth into Iraq through Turkey to conduct bona fide academic research. He told me that neither he, nor anyone else he saw travelling with a British passport, was subject to any kind of check at the border.

Early in the conflict inside Syria, Turkey’s priority was to get Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who is affiliated with Shia Islam and Iran, out of power. That meant that stopping Sunni Muslims from going into Syria was hardly Turkey’s highest priority.

The biggest evidence that Turkey is not likely to do much is that European nations have been constantly asking it to do more almost since the phenomenon of foreign fighters began.

There has been little action.

If the Turks won’t do it for the Europeans, why would we think they will do it for us?

Nonetheless, of course we are right to ask.

Then there is the question of whether the Turks could police their 1000km border with Iraq and Syria even if they wanted to.

Then there is the big people-smuggling industry that always operates across Turkey’s porous borders.

We are right to ask Ankara for help, but I hope we’re not really depending too heavily on its ­response.