US responds to Turkish threats regarding troops in Syria

WASHINGTON DC, United States (Kurdistan24) – US officials on Wednesday made clear their dissatisfaction with ongoing challenges from Ankara to US support for the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) in the fight against the Islamic State (IS) in Syria.

On Tuesday, Ilnur Cevik, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s chief advisor on Kurdish affairs, warned that the US troops acting as “armor” for the YPG “could accidentally get hit by a few rockets.”

The threat, made in a radio interview, elicited a strong US response.

Defense Department spokesman Eric Pahon told Kurdistan24, “We find these comments to be irresponsible and unacceptable.”

Cevik’s hostile comment was prompted by the US patrols along the Syrian-Turkish border that began after Ankara’s April 25 bombardment of YPG headquarters. They serve to protect the YPG against Turkish attacks.

Indeed, Col. John Dorrian, spokesman for the US-led coalition, in a press briefing via teleconference from Baghdad on Wednesday, explained that US forces had adopted a “very overt” presence in northern Syria.

Their mission, Dorrian stated, was to “observe and report” on any cross-border incidents along the Syrian-Turkish frontier and “reassure our allies on both sides” of the border of “our commitment to their security.”

Turkey appears little interested in such reassurances, however.

Erdogan “seems to be escalating the dispute with the US in the run-up to his May 16 meeting with [Donald] Trump,” Dr. Aykan Erdemir, a former Turkish lawmaker, now a senior fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies in Washington DC, told Kurdistan24.

Erdemir suggested it is “mostly posturing on Erdogan’s part,” but sets “US-Turkish relations on a dangerous trajectory.”

When Kurdistan24 asked Dorrian if the US remained concerned about further Turkish attacks on the YPG, he did not really answer.

Rather, in responding, he misspoke, as he affirmed Turkey is a “critical NATO ally,” and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) “are a part of the Syrian Democratic Forces,” a crucial partner against IS.

Of course, Dorrian meant “YPG” and not “PKK,” which the US and Turkey both consider a terrorist organization.

Dorrian also described the situation regarding Raqqa. The coalition remains focused on isolating the capital of IS’ self-proclaimed caliphate.

There has been “very heavy fighting in Tabqa,” where the SDF has liberated 90 percent of the city, as well as “the northern countryside above Raqqa,” he said.

Some 3,000 to 4,000 IS fighters, including leadership elements, remain in the city. IS’ defensive preparations are “very similar to what we saw in Mosul.”

They include “elaborate berms,” as well as “tunneling booby traps” and “vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices.”

Raqqa will likely “be a very dangerous and difficult battle,” he said.

However, plans for Raqqa’s liberation are not yet finalized. Ordinarily, the coalition commander, Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend, would determine the military plan.

But, because of Turkish sensitivities, “conversations” with Ankara “continue every day” at diplomatic and leadership levels. “The issue will be resolved” in Washington, Dorrian explained.

Almost certainly, it will be a major topic of discussion in Erdogan’s upcoming visit.

Ironically, Erdogan was in Moscow on the same day US officials expressed such dissatisfaction with Turkey.

Like the US, Russia has deployed forces to the YPG-controlled territory, in the western canton of Afrin, to deter Turkish attacks.

However, this does not seem to be a major irritant in Turkey’s dealings with Russia.

Erdogan proclaimed ties between the two countries, strained following Turkey’s downing of a Russian jet over Syria in late 2015, were entering a “new phase” and were now "beyond normalization.”

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany