Tillerson, Turkish leaders make little progress in talks
ANKARA, Turkey — Secretary of State Rex Tillerson held a day of longerthan-planned meetings with Turkish leaders in Ankara on Thursday, but the most senior Trump administration official to visit the crucial NATO ally seemed to make little headway in salvaging the troubled relationship.
Washington and Ankara disagree sharply over how to wage war against Islamic State militants in Syria, with the U.S. backing Kurdish militias whom the Turks disdain as terrorists.
Although Tillerson sought to put the best face forward possible after the day’s drawn-out talks, it was clear no agreement was reached. He acknowledged that “difficult choices have to be made.”
“Let there be no mistake,” Tillerson told reporters after more than two hours behind closed doors with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, “There is no space between Turkey and the United States in our commitment to defeat (Islamic State). …”
“There is more discussion yet to be had regarding the way forward,” Tillerson added.
In their meeting, Erdogan reportedly warned Tillerson that Washington must rely on “right and legitimate” actors in the fight in Syria, code for Turkish demands that Kurdish militias be sidelined. Turkey believes that the Kurdish-dominated People’s Protection Units and Syrian Democratic Forces, backed by the U.S. in northern Syria, are merely extensions of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, a separatist group considered by Turkey and its allies — including the U.S. — to be a terrorist organization.
Turkey’s role is especially crucial as a battle looms to recapture the Syrian city of Raqqa, occupied by Islamic State and the group’s selfdeclared capital.
Turkey sent hundreds of troops and heavy armor into Syria last summer to back rebels with the Free Syrian Army, another militia that has carved out a swath of land along the Syrian border and is now poised to expand into two Kurdish enclaves. American troops aiding the Kurds are in those same enclaves, which sit between Turkish forces and Raqqa.
Heavy use of the Kurdish forces was part of an Obama administration plan to retake Raqqa, which now appears to be the blueprint for what would shape up as a Trump administration offensive. Turkish officials had held out hope that President Donald Trump would make a clean break with the Obama-era alliance with Kurdish forces.
Standing at Tillerson’s side on Thursday, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu blasted the Obama strategy and claimed that even American officials recognized that the militias were in cahoots with Kurdish terrorists.
Tillerson remained blank-faced as Cavusoglu railed. And America’s top diplomat repeatedly sidestepped questions about support for the Kurdish militias.
In an apparent effort to appease his Turkish hosts, Tillerson congratulated Turkey for clearing the Islamic State from its shared border with Syria and for stopping the flow of foreign fighters into Syria.
But Tillerson’s sympathetic remarks seemed to be lost on his Turkish audience. Extreme antiAmerican sentiment is on the rise in Turkey, especially following a violent coup attempt on July 15 in which 260 people were killed.
Ankara believes that an Islamic cleric exiled in Pennsylvania, Fethullah Gulen, ordered the coup and is now being sheltered by the U.S. Turkey is demanding Gulen’s extradition, and Turkish officials broached the topic repeatedly with Tillerson. But, aides said, the secretary responded with the U.S. position that any extradition must work its way through a Justice Department review.
Later Thursday, Tillerson was heading to Brussels for his first session with the full roster of NATO leaders.