you heard from brett mcgurk as a bit of history. where do you think the turks are coming from and why are they now allowing the united states to use their bases to conduct air strikes in syria and iraq? >> i think a couple of things have led to this development. maybe three. there is been persistent american diplomatic engagement with the turks, of course and there has been a certain amount of cooperation all along despite the failure to have a strategic meeting of the minds. but that engagement has been there and skillful, i have to say, since i left. beyond that though, i think i.s.i.s. made a very bad mistake. if they didn't direct the attacks on turkey, then at least the inspiration seems to have been there. that seemed to have sealed the enmity of the turks, made it open to i.s.i.s. i.s.i.s. took 40 turkish officials hostage over a year ago and that's a gross humiliation to the turkish state and they haven't forgotten that. so that was unleashed last week in the turkish attacks. and then having gone through an elek, a lot of co

joining me from washington, brett mcgurk. special envoy for the coalition against isis. pleased to have you on the program. what is your title? brett: deputy special presidential envoy on the coalition. charlie: you handle diplomatic's? brett: the our diplomats in our roles. charlie: help me understand how this turkey thing happened. brett: it has been a long process, a 10 month process really. we began discussions with the turks when we set up the international coalition in september. turkey had a number of concerns and we had issues to work out with them. that put two bookends on it. president obama has had conversations with president erdogan about isis. you may recall the town of kobani over the border in syria. it was about to fall to isolate -- isil. at the town fallen, the northern border would have been controlled by isil. the president decided to do an airdrop to the defenders of kobani, the syrian kurds. he called president erdogan and had an in-depth conversation about that decision. we went out to discuss with the turks that situation. we negotiated opening a

mcgurk. even an envoy for the coalition against isis. help us understand -- thank you for your much. -- very much. what is your title? brettial envoy. we are both diplomats. in our roles. charlie: help me understand how this turkey thing happened. brett: it has been a long process. it has been a 9-10 month office. we began intensive discussions with the turks as soon as we set up this international coalition in september. ticky had a number of concerns and issues -- turkey had a number of concerns. and we had issues to work out as well. president obama has had two conversations with their president about ifo. the first one in october the town of khobani was about to fall. had that filing, the entire northern border would have been can -- controlled by isil. president obama wanted to do and airdrop. there were only a few hundred kurds. he called the other president in the had an in-depth conversation. myself and general allen went out to discuss the situation, and negotiated with them, opening up a corridor through turkey to come in and resupply would heavy weapons. that started a very in-depth process with turkey. that end