{ { Infobox military conflict
| conflict = Turkey–Islamic State conflict
| partof = the spillover of the Syrian civil war and the military intervention against ISIL | image = Syrian Civil War map.svg | image_size = 300px | caption = Territories controlled by the belligerents of the Syrian Civil War | date = 11 May 2013 – present() | place = Turkey, Syria, and Iraq | result = | status = Ongoing Terrorist attacks by IS in Turkey or on its citizens from 2013-2016. Turkish attacks on IS in 2014-2016. Turkish occupation of northern Syria Turkey arrests the Islamic State leader Abu al-Hasan al-Hashimi al-Qurashi. Death of ISIL's leader Abu al-Hussein al-Husseini al-Qurashi during clashes in April 2023. <ref>
The Turkey–Islamic State conflict refers to a series of attacks and clashes between the state of Turkey and the Islamic State (ISIS), most of which is part of the spillover of the Syrian Civil War. Turkey joined the War against the Islamic State in 2016, after the Islamic State attacks in Turkey. The Turkish Armed Forces' Operation Euphrates Shield was partly aimed against the Islamic State and partly against the SDF. Part of the Turkish occupied zone in northern Syria, around Jarabulus and al-Bab, was taken from the Islamic State.
Etymology
Turkey like some other countries, such as France and the UK uses the name DAEŞ or DAİŞ, which is the group's Arabic acronym for ISIL (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant). However, the Turkish abbreviation for the Islamic State is IŞİD.
Background
Allegations of Turkish cooperation and support
Ever since the formal founding of ISIL from its Islamist predecessor groups in June 2014, Turkey has faced numerous allegations of collaboration with and support for ISIL in international media. Several of the allegation have focused on Turkish businessman and politician Berat Albayrak, who has faced calls for his prosecution in the United States.
In June 2014, when ISIL had kidnapped 49 Turkish diplomats, a columnist said that Turkey now was "paying the price of its collaboration with terrorists" such as the Islamist militants within the Turkish-backed FSA.
Some news websites in late 2014 also criticised Turkey for "doing nothing" against ISIL.
In April 2018 an article was published by Foreign Policy in which it was stated that in 2013 alone, some 30,000 militants traversed Turkish soil, establishing the so-called "jihadi highway", as the Syria–Turkey border was a popular crossing point for foreign volunteers seeking to join the Islamic State. Furthermore, it was claimed that wounded Islamic State militants were treated for free at hospitals across southeastern Turkey. Among those receiving care was one of the top deputies of Islamic State chieftain Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, Ahmet el-H, who was treated in a private hospital in Sanliurfa in August 2014.
IS recruits
American website Al-Monitor stated in June 2014 that Turkey, during the Syrian Civil War, by "ignoring its own border security", had allowed its Syrian border to become a "jihadist highway" for ISIL to let thousands of international jihadists, and other supplies, reach Syria. British newspaper The Guardian stated that Turkey, in late year 2014, "for many months did little to stop foreign recruits crossing its border to ISIS".
A joint communiqué, issued 11 September 2014 by the United States and 10 Arab states, to stop the flow of volunteers to ISIL was not signed by Turkey present at the meeting. This not-signing may have been caused by the fact that ISIL then was holding 49 Turks hostage in Mosul.
IS offensive on Kobanî
On 29 November 2014, reports emerged of ISIL fighters allegedly launching an assault on Kobanî from Turkish territory. Kurdish sources in Kobane said that ISIL fighters attacked Kobane from Turkish territory, and that the assault began with a vehicle driven by a suicide bomber coming from Turkish territory. During the attack, a group of ISIL fighters were seen atop granary silos on the Turkish side of the border. According to the German news outlet Der Spiegel, ISIL fighters also attacked YPG positions near the border gate from Turkish soil. According to the SOHR, YPG fighters crossed the Turkish border and attacked ISIL positions on Turkish soil, before pulling back to Syria. Soon afterwards, the Turkish Army regained control of the border crossing and silos area. The Turkish government rejected all those claims.