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Turkey, a NATO ally of the United States with Islamic State militants grabbing villages just across its southern border in Syria, is joining President Obama鈥檚 international coalition to fight the Islamist extremists in Iraq and Syria.

Turkey鈥檚 decision听Thursday will hearten US officials 鈥� to a certain degree.

What the addition of the Atlantic alliance鈥檚 only Muslim country to the ranks of anti-Islamic State听countries is not likely to do is quiet Turkey鈥檚 criticisms of the anti-IS strategy 鈥� or end Turkish leaders鈥� ambivalence about entering a fight that looks to part of the Turkish population like a Western war on political Islam.

Turkey鈥檚 parliament voted overwhelmingly Thursday to authorize military intervention by the country鈥檚 armed forces in Iraq and Syria. The approved resolution notably includes language authorizing 鈥渇oreign militaries鈥� to launch cross-border operations from Turkish soil.

That language has the potential to allow the US to use air bases in Turkey to launch airstrikes on IS positions in Syria and Iraq.

But Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan鈥檚 rhetorical mix of support and criticism in the run-up to the vote on military authorization suggests to many regional analysts that Turkey is not likely to join the fight with IS quickly or enthusiastically.

Mr. Erdogan鈥檚 public beefs with the US strategy to 鈥渄egrade and eventually destroy鈥� IS in Iraq and Syria include what he sees as an over-reliance on airstrikes, and the absence from the strategy of any effort to remove Syrian President Bashar al-Assad from power.

Privately, Turkish officials worry that actions against IS will serve to reinforce Kurdish populations on both sides of the border 鈥� and Erdogan has not shied away from raising the Kurdish issue听publicly.

Turkey鈥檚 concerns about the region鈥檚 Kurds 鈥� who straddle the borders of Turkey, Syria, Iraq, and Iran, and who have long dreamed of an independent Kurdistan 鈥� are nothing new. But the regional turmoil and a blurring of borders in the wake of the IS advance from Syria into Iraq are stoking those concerns.

Kurdish fighters along the border in Syria accuse Turkey of tacitly condoning the spread of IS militants across northern Syria, while some Turks along the Syrian border openly profess a preference for the Sunni Muslim forces of IS over the Kurds.

But none of these issues was enough to prompt Erdogan or a sizable number in the parliament 鈥� the vote in favor of authorizing military action was 298 to 98 鈥� to remain on the margins of the coalition of about 40 countries pledging to join the US-led battle against IS.

In the pre-vote debate Erdogan had declared that Turkey was prepared 鈥渇or any cooperation in the fight against terrorism.鈥� The vote came the same day the United Nations released a new report detailing a long list of 鈥済ross human rights abuses鈥� IS is committing in the territory it now holds, from murder and sexual assault to trafficking in persons 鈥� primarily the selling of women into sexual slavery 鈥� forced conversions, and destruction of places of worship.

At the same time, however, Erdogan called for a broader strategy to reach beyond just the struggle with IS to include efforts to resolve the Syrian civil war.

But some Western leaders remain wary of where Erdogan will take Turkey under the new authorization to intervene. Last week, the Turkish leader told Obama on the margins of the UN General Assembly meeting that Turkey鈥檚 contributions to the effort would be 鈥渂oth military and political.鈥�

But back in Turkey this week, Erdogan said in a speech that the West was becoming increasingly 鈥渁nti-Islam,鈥� as it ramps up the anti-IS effort.

He also queried rhetorically why it is that the West is mobilizing against IS, which he referred to by the alternative name ISIS, after having ignored for decades the threat posed to Turkey by the Kurdish extremist separatist group, the Kurdistan Workers party, or PKK.

鈥淲hile the ISIS terror organization is causing turmoil in the Middle East, there has been ongoing PKK terror in my country for the last 32 years,鈥� Erdogan said, 鈥渁nd yet the world was never troubled by it. Why?鈥� he added. 鈥淏ecause this terror organization did not carry the name 鈥業slam.鈥� 鈥�

US officials seem likely to remind the Turkish leader that the US has for decades stood with his country in its battle with violent Kurdish separatists, having named the PKK a foreign terrorist organization in 1997.

It鈥檚 true that some voices in Washington are calling for the PKK to be de-listed 鈥� in part because the PKK has formally renounced hostilities with the Turkish government and especially in light of the role PKK fighters have played in rescuing some minority populations from IS slaughter. But US officials may refrain from mentioning the de-listing campaign as they听probe the Turks on the role they鈥檙e ready to play in the anti-IS fight.