Envoys from all 28 Nato countries
are to hold a emergency meeting to discuss Turkey's campaign against the
Islamic State (IS) group and Kurdish militants.
The meeting in Brussels was called by Turkey, which has become involved in the Syrian conflict in recent days.
The
country, which had previously been reluctant to intervene, has launched
raids against IS in Syria and Kurdish PKK guerrillas in northern Iraq.
The strikes followed a wave of attacks by militants on Turkish soil.
Turkey,
a key Nato member, called Tuesday's meeting of the North Atlantic
Council under Article 4 of the alliance's founding treaty.
The clause allows members to request a summit if their territorial integrity or security is threatened.
It is only the fifth time in the alliance's history that a member state has requested such a meeting.
It
will give Turkey's Nato allies the opportunity to work out its goals
and motivation, after the country has stood on the sidelines of the
Syria conflict for so long, says the BBC defence correspondent Jonathan
Beale.
IS-free zone
It will also offer a chance to hear about US and Turkish plans to set up a buffer zone.
Officials
in Washington told media that the US and Turkey were working together
on military plans to clear the Islamic State (IS) group from parts of
northern Syria,
They said an "Islamic State-free zone" would ensure greater stability along the Syria-Turkish border.
Under
the agreement being reportedly finalised, the militants would be
removed from a 68-mile (109km) stretch west of the Euphrates River, according to the Washington Post.
Such a deal would significantly increase the scope of the US-led air war against IS in northern Syria, the paper says.
Last week Turkey agreed to allow the US to use its air base in Incirlik to launch air strikes against IS.
Syrian Kurds are "outside the scope of the current military effort", Turkey insists
Kurdish unrest
Turkey
is struggling with more than 1.8 million refugees from the Syrian
conflict. On 20 July IS-linked militants killed 32 people in the
Kurdish-majority town of Suruc, near the Syrian border.
The crisis
has exacerbated tensions in a part of Turkey where a conflict between
the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and government troops has
killed about 40,000 people since 1984.
The PKK claimed an attack
which killed two Turkish police officers on Thursday. It said it was in
retaliation for the Suruc bombing and what the group sees as Turkey's
collaboration with IS.
Turkish operations in Syria have also led to tensions with Kurdish militia forces fighting IS in northern Syria.
On Monday Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) said Turkish tanks had shelled their positions near the Syrian town of Kobane.
A
Turkish official said recent operations sought "to neutralise imminent
threats to Turkey's regional security" and were targeting IS in Syria
and the PKK in Iraq.
"We are investigating claims that the Turkish military engaged positions held by forces other than [IS]," the official said.
Kurdish forces within Syria, he added, remain "outside the scope of the current military effort". Analysis: Paul Adams, BBC diplomatic correspondent
Turkey's
long-awaited involvement in the international coalition against IS,
flying combat missions and making its vital airbases available to US
jets, has been described as a possible "game changer."
But if the
government in Ankara continues to see no difference between IS and the
Kurdish PKK - a position repeated on Monday by Foreign Minister Mevlut
Cavusoglu - then its latest move presents the rest of the coalition, in
particular the Americans, with a dilemma.
For almost a year,
Kurdish rebels (the YPG, closely allied with the PKK) have represented
Washington's best hope for confronting IS on the ground in Syria.
But
Turkey has no interest in promoting Kurdish success along its southern
border, at a time when its own unresolved Kurdish conflict threatens to
explode once more. What can Turkey gain from Nato meeting? Turkish press fears new civil war Turkey's dangerous game Who are the PKK?
Media captionMevlut Cavusoglu: "We use our rights under international law to hit the targets"
Turkey is struggling with more than 1.8 million refugees from the Syrian conflict.
The
crisis has exacerbated tensions in a part of Turkey where a conflict
between the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and government
troops has killed about 40,000 people since 1984.
A Turkish
official said recent operations sought "to neutralise imminent threats
to Turkey's regional security" and were targeting IS in Syria and the
PKK in Iraq.
"We are investigating claims that the Turkish military engaged positions held by forces other than [IS]," the official said.
Kurdish forces within Syria, he added, remain "outside the scope of the current military effort".
Meanwhile Turkish police have continued to arrest suspected members of IS or the PKK, more than 1,000 over the past week.
"The Turkey-Syria border, the Turkey-Iraq border is Nato's responsibility to protect," Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said.
"Rather
than an operational decision [at Tuesday's meeting], we are hoping all
allies understand Turkey's intentions and for them to support Turkey in
its security measures when needed in the ongoing fight."
Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has said the PKK and its allies in Syria are the same as IS and must be eradicated.
However,
both UK Prime Minister David Cameron and the US state department
reaffirmed that the focus of the allied campaign in the region was
fighting IS.
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