Turkey, Russia, US army chiefs seek better coordination

Russia, meanwhile, is trying to contain Turkey with flexible but principled support for Syrian Kurds, openly supporting their aspirations to self-administration and their idea of turning Syria into a federal state.

A spokesperson for General Dunford said “the current situation of the fight against all terrorist organisations in Syria with an effort to wage a more effective fight against [them]” was discussed. “If coordination can’t be established, then there could be a risk of confrontation, which we do not wish for”.

This is why Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım told reporters that Turkey would prefer the Assad regime control Manbij.

Toner also made clear that the USA government still denies the obvious links between the PKK and YPG, but reiterated the notion that they are mindful about Turkey’s concerns. Yet, both Russian Federation and the United States have separately been collaborated with Syrian Kurds despite Ankara’s frustration.

The YPG now fights as part of an alliance called the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which includes YPG-allied Arabs and is Washington’s main partner against Islamic State in Syria.

After clashing with Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army rebels west of Manbij earlier this month, the Manbij Military Council (MMC) declared a deal with Russian Federation to hand front-line villages to Syrian government control.

Tensions came to a head last week over Manbij, a mainly Arab town conquered by the SDF last August with the help of USA air power. The gamble was that Turkey wouldn’t directly attack the Syrian military to try to get at the Kurds. “The Turkish side is an occupation force and it can not be allowed to occupy more Syrian land”, he said.

In addition to Syrian and Russian troops on the outskirts of Manbij, the Kurdish YPG also has a number of USA troops deployed inside Manbij with them, aiming to deter Turkish attacks.

Turkey has long demanded that the YPG move out of the Syrian town of Manbij, having previously warned the group not to advance west of the Euphrates river.

The comments came a day after Turkey stepped back from threats to unilaterally strike Kurdish militia deployed in Manbij.

Ankara has conducted a military campaign inside Syria since late August, backing Syrian opposition fighters and recapturing from IS several towns near its border. Turkey views this as a game of sides, and the Trump administration now seems to have picked one.

More urgently, however, the United States will have to find a balance between the SDF and Turkey. Tell Abyad is a strategic prize due to its proximity to the IS capital of Raqqa. “Many events have happened, and lately we have been working actively to bring the Russia-Turkey relations to the level worth our countries”.

Which means that, combined with Donald Trump’s executive order (temporarily) banning refugees and Syrians from the United States, the numbers of refugees in Turkey won’t be shrinking anytime soon.