ERDOGAN AND TRUMP UNITE
US president and Turkish leader agree to launch joint attack on extremists in an effort to capture Al Bab and Raqqa
Leaders of Turkey and US agree to launch attack on Syrian extremists,
ISTANBUL // President Donald Trump and Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan have agreed to cooperate in the fight against extremists in Syria, in their first phone call since the new US leader took office, Ankara said yesterday.
The leaders of the Nato allies also agreed that the new CIA chief, Mike Pompeo, would visit Turkey this week, a Turkish presidential source said.
During their 45-minute conversation on Tuesday, the presidents discussed a co-ordinated effort in Turkey’s battle to capture the Syrian town of Al Bab from ISIL extremists and taking the main ISIL stronghold of Raqqa.
“Both leaders agreed to act together in Al Bab and Raqqa” in Syria, the source said.
Turkey said yesterday, after the phone call, that it was looking to push towards Raqqa in northern Syria in the next stage of its nearly half-year military operation.
Russian foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu suggested that Turkey and its allies could send special forces to take Raqqa, the de facto capital for ISIL, despite being mired in intense fighting against extremists in Al Bab to the west.
“The target after this [ Al Bab] in Syria is the Raqqa operation,” Mr Cavusoglu said alongside Saudi Arabian foreign minister Adel Al Jubeir in Ankara.
“As regional countries, as countries inside the [ US- led] coalition, we can put our special forces in, we need to put them in,” Mr Cavusoglu said, referring to any Raqqa offensive.
A member of the US-led coalition against ISIL, Turkey in August launched a unilateral incursion in Syria, backing Syrian rebels to clear its border from ISIL and also pushing back Syrian Kurdish militia.
However, the battle for Al Bab has proved the toughest yet of the Turkish incursion, with the army suffering increasing casualties and Mr Erdogan complaining Ankara has been left on its own.
Meanwhile, a joint US-Turkey operation to take Raqqa was mooted before but never developed. Ties between Turkey and the US were uneasy under the Barack Obama administration.
Turkey was enraged by US support for Syrian Kurdish militia, which Washington regards as the most effective group in the fight against ISIL.
Ankara considers the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) and its armed wing, the Kurdish Peoples’ Protection Units ( YPG), terrorist groups and branches of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party ( PKK), which has waged a bloody insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984.
The Turkish government has hopes of improved ties under Mr Trump and reaction to the call was closely watched in Turkey.
In his conversation with Mr Trump, Mr Erdogan stressed the importance of the fight against the PKK and said that Washington should not support the PYD and YPG, the Turkish presidential source said.
Mr Erdogan also said Turkey expected Washington to stand by Ankara in the fight against the US preacher Fethullah Gulen who it accuses of staging the failed July 15 coup against Mr Erdogan.
Turkey wants the imam extradited from the US and charges that Mr Gulen runs a group called Fethullah Terror Organisation (Feto) – something he denies.
The source also said that Mr Pompeo would visit Turkey today to discuss security issues.
It will be his first trip overseas since being sworn in last month.
“He will consult with Turkish authorities’ agenda items particularly the PYD and Feto,” the source said. Mr Trump and Mr Erdogan also discussed a long-standing Turkish call for the creation of safe zones in Syria, the refugee crisis and the fight against extremist groups, according to officials from Mr Erdogan’s office.
The White House said in their phone call Mr Trump spoke of “their shared commitment to combating terrorism in all its forms”, saying Mr Trump reiterated US support to Turkey as a “strategic partner and Nato ally”.