US affirms, again, no agreement with Turkey on Manbij
WASHINGTON DC (Kurdistan 24) - For the fourth time since former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s marathon meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in mid-February, State Department Spokesperson, Heather Nauert, stated on Tuesday that no agreement existed between the US and Turkey over the future of the Syrian city of Manbij.
Responding to a question from Kurdistan 24 about accounts in the Turkish press that the US and Turkey had, indeed, reached an understanding, whereby the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) would leave Manbij and the city would be patrolled jointly by US and Turkish troops, Nauert, once again, denied that any such understanding existed.
“We don’t have any agreements yet with the government of Turkey,” Nauert said.
“We’re continuing to have ongoing conversations regarding Syria and other issues of mutual concern,” she stated, as she explained that a US-Turkish working group had met in Ankara on Friday.
“The two sides had outlined the contours of a roadmap for further cooperation,” including on Manbij, she added, affirming that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo looked forward to hosting his Turkish counterpart, Mevlut Cavusoglu, in Washington on June 4 to continue those conversations.
Nauert had harsh words for a charge that Turkey’s Interior Minister, Suleyman Soylu, leveled on Tuesday against the former US ambassador to Turkey, John Bass, now the US ambassador in Afghanistan.
In a conference on EU-Turkish border security, attended by European diplomats, Soylu charged that Bass was responsible for the flow of migrants and drugs out of Afghanistan through Turkey and into Europe.
Soylu’s remarks were carried by Turkish state media. Nauert, however, dismissed them as “an absolutely ridiculous accusation.”
The question of an agreement between the US and Turkey over Manbij has arisen publicly at least five times since February 15, when Tillerson met privately for three hours with Erdogan in an effort to reverse the deteriorating relations between Washington and Ankara.
No other American was present in the meeting—neither a notetaker, nor translator. Rather, Cavusoglu did the translating.
The highly unusual meeting was criticized for creating the possibility of misunderstandings between the two sides.
Already, five days later, on Feb, 20, Nauert was asked about Turkish claims that an understanding had been reached about joint patrols by Turkish and U.S. forces in Manbij.
She responded, “I cannot confirm the report.”
The same issue then arose on March 20, March 22, May 17, and, most recently, on Tuesday.
On each occasion, Nauert affirmed that no agreement had been reached on Manbij.
In addition, over that same time period, the coalition presence in Manbij increased, rather than decreased, as French troops joined US forces in working alongside the SDF in Manbij.