US: 'Turkish soldiers will not go into Manbij'

Despite the start of the implementation of the “roadmap” for the Syrian city of Manbij Turkish forces will not enter Manbij itself.

WASHINGTON DC (Kurdistan 24) - Despite the start of the implementation of the “roadmap” for the Syrian city of Manbij—endorsed in a June 4 meeting between US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, and Turkish Foreign Minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu—Turkish forces will not enter Manbij itself.

Col. Sean Ryan, Spokesman for the US-led coalition against the Islamic State (IS), formally known as Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve (CJTF-OIR), spoke to Pentagon reporters on Tuesday, via teleconference from Baghdad.

“I can tell you that Turkish soldiers will not go into Manbij,” Ryan said.

“The Manbij Military Council is in control of all the area,” he affirmed, as he explained that Turkey would be conducting patrols “along the northern demarcation line,” that separates the territory held by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), America’s partner in the anti-IS war, and the territory held by the Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA.)

Following a two-day meeting last week between US and Turkish military officials in Stuttgart, Germany, the actual implementation of the roadmap began on Monday.

However, much of the troubled dynamic between the US and Turkey that existed before the June 4 agreement seems to persist.

Turkish officials continue to portray the roadmap as bringing more radical change than US officials do. They also claim that there is a fixed timetable for implementing the road map’s several stages, while US officials insist that no timetable exists.

Ryan’s affirmation that Turkish forces would not go into Manbij contradicted what Cavusoglu had said the day before: “Our forces have begun entering and patrolling in the area between the Operation Euphrates Shield area [under FSA control] and Manbij,” adding that they “will also enter Manbij, step by step.”

Similarly, Turkey’s Deputy Prime Minister and Government Spokesman, Bekir Bozdag, said on Monday that there was a three-month timeline for implementing the entire roadmap. However, Ryan told reporters, “There’s no timetable,” because the roadmap “is conditions-based.”

Ryan also affirmed US satisfaction with the current situation in Manbij. “The goal is to keep Manbij peaceful and stable, like it is right now,” he said.

Dr. Aykan Erdemir, a former Turkish lawmaker and now a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, advised Kurdistan 24 that the consistent Turkish misrepresentations are driven by political considerations.

“Turkish and US soldiers have begun independent patrols in their respective zones of control on the outskirts of Manbij,” Erdemir explained, in language echoing official US spokesmen.

However, “Turkey’s pro-government media” go further and “claim that Turkish forces have entered Manbij,” he noted.

“This spin is an attempt to boost” the image of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, “as a leader who has outsmarted and overpowered Washington.”

“Erdogan is concerned about losing his parliamentary majority in the June 24 elections,” Erdemir stated, and Erdogan hopes that “such reports will mobilize Turkey’s nationalist electorate” behind him.

Turkey views the SDF’s Kurdish leadership, the People’s Protection Units (YPG), as the Syrian branch of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which it, along with the US and EU, consider a terrorist organization.

Immediately after the June 4 meeting between Pompeo and Cavusoglu endorsing the Manbij roadmap, the YPG announced it was withdrawing its military advisers from the city.

However, as an informed Turkish source told Kurdistan 24, Ankara believes that the YPG also dominates the Manbij Military Council, even as Ryan described the Council as administering the city effectively, maintaining peace and stability there.

Two weeks ago, Col. Thomas Veale, CJTF-OIR’s Director of Public Affairs, described the entire northeast of Syria, administered under the auspices of the SDF, as “the most stable areas” of the country.

Immediately following the June 4 agreement on the Manbij roadmap, US Secretary of Defense, Jim Mattis, affirmed, “We will not simply cast [the SDF] aside.”