U.S., Turkey seek to normalize relations
Joint working groups to take up specific issues
ANKARA, Turkey — The United States and Turkey pulled back from the brink of a potentially disastrous crisis on Friday, agreeing to normalize badly strained relations over Syria and other issues that had threatened the NATO allies’ longstanding ties.
However, details of the rapprochement were vague as the two sides agreed in principle only to form working groups that will begin meeting within the month to examine points of contention and try to resolve them.
After talks in Ankara, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu announced the creation of new “mechanisms” to improve the relationship, starting with the question of American support for Kurdish rebels in northern Syria.
Those talks followed a lengthy meeting between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Cavusoglu and Tillerson late Thursday at which a broad range of disagreements were covered.
In addition to Syria, those included Ankara’s complaints against a U.s.-based Turkish cleric whom Erdogan accuses of fomenting a failed 2016 coup, U.S. concerns about the state of Turkey’s democracy and opposition to Turkey’s planned purchase of a Russian air defense system.
“We brought forward proposals on how we can address all of the critical issues that are standing between our countries,” Tillerson said during a joint news conference with Cavusoglu. He said joint working groups would take up specific issues including troop deployments to address Turkish border security concerns before the middle of March.
Turkey is riled over Washington’s support of the YPG — the top U.S. ally in the fight against the Islamic State group. Turkey considers it a terrorist group linked to Kurdish rebels fighting inside Turkey.
Compounding the difficulties over Syria, ties had also been damaged by what Ankara perceives to be Washington’s reluctance to extradite U.s.based cleric Fethullah Gulen and the trial in the United States against a banker accused of helping Iran evade sanctions.
For its part, Washington is angered by the detention of journalists and opposition figures, American citizens and Turkish employees of U.S. consulates in Turkey on alleged terror charges.