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Trump warns Erdogan to avoid clash between U.S., Turkish forces

By Idrees Ali and Arshad Mohammed

 

FILE PHOTO - U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to reporters after signing directives to impose tariffs on imported washing machines and solar panels before signing it in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, U.S. January 23, 2018. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump urged Turkey to curtail its military operation in northern Syria and warned it not to bring U.S. and Turkish forces into conflict on Wednesday but analysts said he has little leverage to halt its NATO ally's offensive there.

 

Turkey's air and ground operation in Syria's Afrin region, now in its fifth day, targets U.S.-backed Kurdish YPG fighters, which Ankara sees as allies of Kurdish insurgents who have fought in southeastern Turkey for decades.

 

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said he would extend the operation to Manbij, a separate Kurdish-held enclave some 100 km (60 miles) east of Afrin, possibly putting U.S. forces there at risk and threatening U.S. plans to stabilise a swathe of Syria.

 

Speaking with Erdogan by telephone, Trump became the latest U.S. official to try to rein in the offensive and to pointedly flag the risk of the two allies' forces coming into conflict.

 

"He urged Turkey to deescalate, limit its military actions, and avoid civilian casualties," a White House statement said. "He urged Turkey to exercise caution and to avoid any actions that might risk conflict between Turkish and American forces."

 

The United States has around 2,000 troops in Syria.

 

Erdogan told Trump in the call that the United States must halt weapons support to the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia, the Turkish president's office said.

 

The offensive has opened a new front in Syria's multi-sided, seven-year-old civil war and complicated U.S. efforts in Syria.

 

The United States hopes to use the YPG's control of the area to give it the diplomatic muscle it needs to revive U.N.-led talks in Geneva on a deal that would end Syria’s civil war and eventually lead to the ouster of President Bashar Assad.

 

DIVERGING INTERESTS

 

The United States and Turkey, while themselves allies in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, have diverging interests in Syria, with Washington focussed on defeating Islamic State and Ankara keen to prevent Syria's Kurds from gaining autonomy and fuelling Kurdish insurgents on its soil.

 

In the short-term, analysts say, the United States has little pressure it can apply on Turkey given the U.S. military's heavy dependence on a Turkish base to carry out airstrikes in Syria against the Islamic State militant group.

 

Its sway is further limited by the United States not having reliable military partners in Syria other than the Kurds, said Gonul Tol, director of the Center for Turkish Studies at Washington's Middle East Institute think tank.

 

"The U.S. needs Turkey not to spoil things...until now, Washington has walked a very fine line between working with the Kurdish militia and also preventing a complete breakdown in relations with Ankara," Tol said.

 

A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Trump values his relationship with Erdogan, but conceded that the U.S. has limited leverage and that the administration is unlikely to commit more troops or covert operators to Syria, even if Turkey makes a move from Afrin to Manbij.

 

"The U.S. has effectively said you can do this operation against Afrin because it is outside my area, but please keep it limited," said Bulent Aliriza, director of the Turkey Project at the Washington-based think-tank CSIS. "So it has not felt the need to go beyond the rhetorical means that it has employed."

 

Erdogan has looked to bolster ties with Russia and Iran in recent years, in part because of frustration with Washington’s support for the YPG in the fight against Islamic State.

 

Ankara sees the YPG as an extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) insurgent group in Turkey which is deemed a terrorist organisation by the United States, the EU and Turkey.

 

In a clear sign of rapprochement, Ankara is buying a S-400 missile defence system from Russia - unnerving NATO officials, who are already wary of Moscow’s military presence in the Middle East. The S-400 is incompatible with NATO'S systems.

 

However, analysts say those moves are largely tactical and ultimately Turkey will be open to listening to U.S. concerns about its military operation, given that Ankara needs the European Union for trade and NATO partners for its security.

 

"I think behind closed doors, he really would not want a complete break in Turkey's relations with the West," Tol said.

 

Max Hoffman, with the Center for American Progress, said the United States still had considerable leverage, and could look at imposing sanctions on Turkey in the future, should Turkish forces disregard warnings on Manbij.

 

(Additional reporting by Doina Chiacu; Editing by Alistair Bell)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-01-25

[Topdoc]

"Afrin and Manbij are presently controlled by the Syrian Kurdish forces aligned with the US. The US, which has 5 bases in northern Syria in the territories controlled by the Kurdish militia, has directly helped the occupation of Manbij by the Kurdish militia in 2016. Thus, the Turkish operation signifies a strategic defiance of the US. Washington had repeatedly urged Ankara against making any military moves against the Kurdish militia.

 

But what finally proved decisive seems to be the US plan to create a 30000-strong Kurdish force in northern Syria with the intention to use it as a proxy. Erdogan senses that the US is going ahead with the project to create a Kurdish enclave in northern Syria along the Turkish border as a strategic hub for its future interventions in Syria and Iraq. Of course, such a Kurdistan enclave will pose a long-term national security threat to Turkey by giving fillip to Kurdish separatists in Turkey. Erdogan kept pleading with Washington not to align with the Kurds but of no avail and has now decided to take matters into his hands."

http://blogs.rediff.com/mkbhadrakumar/

[BuaBS]

A strict no fly zone would be a good first step .

[boomerangutang]

        Somebody should tell Trump that with each passing day, his voice becomes more insignificant.  Trump won't know it, because his staff only show him briefings that praise him - they don't show him reality.  But reality will come back and slap him so hard in the face that he gets knocked out an Oval Office window - out to the sidewalk.

[Enoon]

 

Forget it Don.

 

Kennedy......Vietnam.

 

Bush........Iraq

 

Trump......Turkey.

 

That will be your "legacy".

 

 

[stevenl]

51 minutes ago, BuaBS said:

A strict no fly zone would be a good first step .

Yes, with NATO patrolling and shooting down Turkish planes violating the no-fly zone.

[Baerboxer]

3 minutes ago, stevenl said:

Yes, with NATO patrolling and shooting down Turkish planes violating the no-fly zone.

 

Would those NATO planes by Turkish, with Turkish pilots flying from Turkish airbases and shooting down Turkish planes that weren't on NATO missions?

[thaibeachlovers]

29 minutes ago, Enoon said:

 

Forget it Don.

 

Kennedy......Vietnam.

 

Bush........Iraq

 

Trump......Turkey.

 

That will be your "legacy".

 

 

Like I said, get the US forces out of that quagmire, and give the Kurds whatever they need to ensure their security against both the Turks and IS/ Syria.

Get US planes out of Turkey too. Turkey under Erdogan, IMO, is no friend of the west.

[stevenl]

14 minutes ago, Baerboxer said:

 

Would those NATO planes by Turkish, with Turkish pilots flying from Turkish airbases and shooting down Turkish planes that weren't on NATO missions?

It's ok, you don't get sarcastic posts.

[William T]

And the US had to get the use of an Airbase in Turkey to help combat ISIS because they could not get one from Israel (their so-called greatest ally in the Middle East)   And in return turned a blind eye to Turkey bombing Kurdish forces in Iraq who were the only effective fighting force against ISIS>

[thaibeachlovers]

11 minutes ago, William T said:

And the US had to get the use of an Airbase in Turkey to help combat ISIS because they could not get one from Israel (their so-called greatest ally in the Middle East)   And in return turned a blind eye to Turkey bombing Kurdish forces in Iraq who were the only effective fighting force against ISIS>

LOL. Has Israel ever helped the US in any of it's wars? I don't remember an Israeli brigade in Korea or Vietnam.

I appreciate the US didn't want them to "help" in the middle east wars because of the obvious down side. 

[thaibeachlovers]

15 minutes ago, William T said:

And the US had to get the use of an Airbase in Turkey to help combat ISIS because they could not get one from Israel (their so-called greatest ally in the Middle East)   And in return turned a blind eye to Turkey bombing Kurdish forces in Iraq who were the only effective fighting force against ISIS>

After the US cock up in Libya, it's a shame they didn't understand why they should not be in Syria anyway.

Help the Kurds to do the job and stay out of it.

[Morch]

3 hours ago, Enoon said:

 

Forget it Don.

 

Kennedy......Vietnam.

 

Bush........Iraq

 

Trump......Turkey.

 

That will be your "legacy".

 

 

 

More like "Trump.....Syria". The US is not about to invade Turkey. And, of course, the US involvement in Syria began under Obama's administration.

[Morch]

3 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Like I said, get the US forces out of that quagmire, and give the Kurds whatever they need to ensure their security against both the Turks and IS/ Syria.

Get US planes out of Turkey too. Turkey under Erdogan, IMO, is no friend of the west.

 

The Syrian Kurds will not be able to independently withstand a full onslaught by either Syrian or Turkish forces, never mind both, regardless of how much military hardware the US can realistically provide them with. There is no way to "ensure their security", at this point, without US presence.

[Morch]

2 hours ago, William T said:

And the US had to get the use of an Airbase in Turkey to help combat ISIS because they could not get one from Israel (their so-called greatest ally in the Middle East)   And in return turned a blind eye to Turkey bombing Kurdish forces in Iraq who were the only effective fighting force against ISIS>

 

Rubbish. The US did not ask Israel for such a base or deployment. Quite the opposite, Israel was asked to stay out of most relevant US & coalition military activities, for diplomatic reasons.

[William T]

Just

4 hours ago, Morch said:

 

Rubbish. The US did not ask Israel for such a base or deployment. Quite the opposite, Israel was asked to stay out of most relevant US & coalition military activities, for diplomatic reasons.

So what is the point of having an ally if they are of no use when the Americans need help to fight against ISIS and the Assad Syrian  forces. Israel doesn't hesitate to attack the Syrian forces and their allies who were fighting ISIS who had taken over large parts of Syria thus indirectly were helping ISIS. So what was the diplomatic problem preventing Israel helping the Americans fight ISIS.

 

Edited January 25, 2018 by William T

[Morch]

14 minutes ago, William T said:

Just

So what is the point of having an ally if they are of no use when the Americans need help to fight against ISIS and the Assad Syrian  forces. Israel doesn't hesitate to attack the Syrian forces and their allies who were fighting ISIS who had taken over large parts of Syria thus indirectly were helping ISIS. So what was the diplomatic problem preventing Israel helping the Americans fight ISIS.

 

 

The Coalition depended on the participation of Arab countries, which weren't keen on being seen as cooperating with Israel. Had Israel taken an overt active part fighting along side these countries' forces, ISIS would have an easy time spinning it and milking the religious angle even more. Israel does assist the US when it comes to sharing intelligence on relevant foes and fronts. Doubt you weren't aware of this.