Power Tussles in the Middle East

U.S. and Turkish strategic objectives in the Middle East are imperfectly aligned. The United States wants to contain Iran and destroy Islamism (as embodied by the Islamic State), while Turkey aspires to become the dominant regional power and quash Kurdish separatism. In its fight against the Islamic State, the United States is partnered with a Syrian Kurdish militia that Turkey claims is affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party terrorist group. Ankara is more interested in moderating and harnessing Islamism