Pentagon tries to ease Turkey’s concerns about arming Kurds

LONDON — Defense Secretary Jim Mattis made clear Thursday that the U.S. is committed to protecting Turkey after angering its NATO ally with a deal to arm fighters in Syria whom Turkey considers terrorists.

Mattis stressed the enduring nature of the U.S.Turkey relationship in a meeting with Prime Minister Binali Yildirim, the first face-to-face contact between officials from the two countries since the U.S. announcement about military support for the Syrian Kurds.

The defense secretary, speaking to reporters after the meeting in London, characterized the discussions as “honest, transparent and helpful.”

Mattis said he had no doubt the U.S. and Turkey would “work this out with due consideration and significant attention paid to Turkey’s security, to NATO’s security and the continuing campaign” against Islamic State.

The U.S. is convinced that the Kurdish fighters, known as the YPG, are the most effective local force in trying to oust Islamic State militants from their stronghold in Raqqa, Syria. Turkey wants the arms agreement reversed. Its leaders have railed against any strategy that, in their view, would involve the U.S. using one terrorist group to fight another.

Mattis acknowledged Turkey’s concerns that weapons could end up in the hands of the Kurdish militants in Turkey, known as the PKK. Like Turkey, the U.S. considers that group a terrorist organization.

“We support Turkey in its fight against PKK,” he said. “We do not ever give weapons to the PKK. We never have and never will.”