{"id":39411,"date":"2018-02-13T03:26:06","date_gmt":"2018-02-13T03:26:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2018\/02\/13\/turkey-assails-us-over-ties-with-syrian-kurdish-militia\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T07:12:38","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T07:12:38","slug":"turkey-assails-us-over-ties-with-syrian-kurdish-militia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/flashpoints\/2018\/02\/13\/turkey-assails-us-over-ties-with-syrian-kurdish-militia\/","title":{"rendered":"Turkey assails US over ties with Syrian Kurdish militia"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

BEIRUT \u2014 Turkey\u2019s foreign minister assailed the United States on Monday, claiming that American forces in Syria are intentionally stalling the fight against Islamic State militants<\/a> as an excuse not to cut ties with Syrian Kurdish militiamen as Ankara has demanded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mevlut Cavusoglu told reporters in Istanbul that U.S. forces are leaving \u201cpockets\u201d with ISIS militants intact to justify continued cooperation with the Kurdish militia<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking ahead of a visit by U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson later this week, Cavusoglu said Turkey\u2019s ties with the U.S. are at a make-or-break stage and that Washington needs to take \u201cconcrete steps\u201d to regain Turkey\u2019s trust.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur relations are at a very critical stage,\u201d Cavusoglu said. \u201cEither we will improve ties or these ties will totally break down.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ankara is riled<\/a> over Washington\u2019s support for the Syrian Kurdish People\u2019s Protection Units, or YPG \u2014 the top U.S. ally in the fight against the Islamic State group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Turkey considers the YPG a \u201cterrorist\u201d group linked to Kurdish insurgents fighting within Turkey\u2019s own borders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Turkey\u2019s military launched a cross-border operation<\/a> into the Syrian Kurdish-held enclave of Afrin in northern Syria to rout the YPG from the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ankara has also threatened to expand its offensive to the YPG-held town of Manbij, east of Afrin, where the U.S. has a military presence, setting the scene for a potential showdown between the two NATO allies that back different sides in Syria\u2019s complex and multi-layered civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the operations in Afrin have been slow-going. In more than three weeks of fighting, Turkey has managed to capture a handful of hilltops and villages. Some 10,000 Syrian opposition fighters \u2014 paid, trained, and equipped by Turkey \u2014 are also participating in the campaign. Turkey has lost 31 soldiers<\/a> in the campaign, according to its military.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The U.S. is not militarily invested in Afrin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Supporters and fighters of the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) drive in the street in Qamishli waving flags as they celebrate after the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) announced they had taken full control of Raqqa from the Islamic State (IS) group on October 17, 2017. (Delil Souleiman\/AFP\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Sipan Hemo, commander of the YPG, conceded that Turkey\u2019s operation had taken \u201csome strategic points\u201d in the Afrin areas, but said it was not considered \u201ca major advance.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Turkey\u2019s martial superiority lies in its airpower. Kurdish fighters have shot down a helicopter but have no answer to the F-16s and other jets flying raids over Afrin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Syria\u2019s government maintains that Turkey\u2019s operations are \u201cillegal\u201d and a violation of Syrian sovereignty. It is allowing the YPG to send humanitarian assistance through neighbouring government-held territory to Afrin, but not troops or weapons, according to Hemo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The YPG, and its sister organization, the Democratic Union Party, or PYD, are demanding Syria adopts a decentralized and federated political structure, an outcome the government says is unacceptable. But the Kurds and the Syrian government have overlapping interests in the shared fight against ISIS and limiting Turkey\u2019s intervention in Syria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hemo, speaking to journalists on a press call over Skype, said the YPG was defending Syria\u2019s sovereignty and would welcome government forces \u201cto enter to defend the borders of Afrin in the face of occupation of Turkey.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Turkey has kept ground forces in north Syria since 2016, with the triple mission of fighting the Islamic State group, containing Kurdish expansionism and stabilizing the lines of conflict between the government and rebels. It has stationed troops on either side of the Afrin canton, including among al-Qaida-linked insurgents that dominate Idlib, a province in northwest Syria that is the opposition\u2019s largest remaining stronghold in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf we had the forces, we would have fought this occupation in Idlib, too,\u201d said the YPG\u2019s Hemo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, Syria\u2019s deputy foreign minister has hailed Syria\u2019s downing of an Israeli warplane over the weekend as a \u201cmilitary achievement,\u201d which he said reflects Syria\u2019s determination to defeat its enemies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The comments by Faisal Mekdad are the first by a senior government official since Syrian air defenses shot down an Israeli F-16 amid Israeli airstrikes that hit Iranian targets in Syria on Saturday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Israel says it launched the airstrikes after it shot down an infiltrating Iranian drone. Israel has not confirmed whether its aircraft was actually shot down, which would mark the first such instance for Israel since 1982, in the first Lebanon war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mekdad said any party that commits acts of aggression against Syria will \u201csuffer the same fate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He spoke late on Sunday during a reception in Damascus to mark the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fraser reported from Ankara, Turkey. Associated Press writers Sarah El Deeb in Beirut and Albert Aji in Damascus, Syria contributed to this report.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Turkey\u2019s foreign minister assailed the United States on Monday, claiming that American forces in Syria are intentionally stalling the fight against Islamic State militants as an excuse not to cut ties with Syrian Kurdish militiamen as Ankara has 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