ISTANBUL (Dispatches) – A dispute between Turkey and the United States over control of a north Syrian town has put the NATO allies on opposing sides of the conflict’s front line, deepening a diplomatic rift ahead of a visit to Turkey by U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.
This week’s talks, already challenging given disagreements over President Tayyip Erdogan’s crackdown after a failed 2016 coup, the detention of U.S. consulate staff and citizens, and the trial of a Turkish bank executive for evading U.S. sanctions on Iran, have been given added edge by the dispute over Syria.
Turkish and U.S. troops, deployed alongside local fighters, have carved out rival areas of influence on Syria’s northern border. To Ankara’s fury, Washington allied itself with a force led by the Kurdish YPG, a militia which Turkey says is commanded by the same leaders overseeing an insurgency in its southeast.
The dispute has come to a head over the Syrian town of Manbij, where Turkey has threatened to drive out a YPG-led force and warned the United States - which has troops there - not to get in the way.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu says Ankara's ties with Washington will either be mended or severed, as relations between the two North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) allies have suffered serious damage in the wake of Ankara’s ongoing cross-border offensive in Syria’s northwestern region of Afrin against the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG).
"Our relations are at a very critical point. They will either be fixed or these ties will be completely damaged,” Cavusoglu told reporters in Istanbul on the sidelines of a Turkish-African meeting.
He also elaborated on Ankara's expectations, and condemned continuous U.S. support for the YPG.
"We don't want promises and pledges from the U.S. We want concrete steps [regarding the YPG]. For us to discuss multiple issues with the U.S., the trust that has been lost needs to be restored. And the cause of the lost trust is U.S. [actions],” the top Turkish diplomat pointed out.
Cavusoglu added, "The U.S. is not touching Daesh members in Syria as an excuse to continue working with YPG terrorist group.”
The remarks came as U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is due in Ankara later this week for talks aimed at finding a way forward as Washington is seriously concerned about Turkey’s Operation Olive Branch in northern Syria.