US, Turkey strain for deal on key element of anti-IS fight
ANKARA, Turkey — The Trump administration and Turkey appeared no closer Thursday to resolving a dispute over the Kurds’ role in defeating the Islamic State group in Syria, as U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson visited America’s often nettlesome NATO ally for the first time.
Although the disagreement centres on tactics for a long-planned assault on IS’ self-declared capital of Raqqa, Turkey’s long-term security is also at stake. For decades, Turkey has battled Kurdish militants inside its own borders. So Turkey is loath to tolerate the U.S. partnering against IS with Syrian Kurdish fighters instead of Turkey’s own military and affiliated Syrian forces.
“Let me be very frank: These are not easy decisions,” Tillerson said after meeting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and other top Turkish officials in Ankara.
The dispute has deepened a divide between the two allies that have agreed on little in recent years. The Obama administration long complained about Turkey’s inability to seal its frontier to prevent extremist recruits from reaching Middle East battlefields, and the frustration has carried over under President Donald Trump as the U.S. looks to deal IS death blows in Iraq and Syria.