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Shades of gray in Turkey's stated Syria goals

January 28, 2018 06:51·
President Trump is slated to speak with Erdogan on Wednesday

President Trump is slated to speak with Erdogan on Wednesday

On Wednesday, prior to his phone call with Trump, Erdogan said Turkey would extend its military operation in Syria to the town of Manbij, a move that could potentially bring Turkish forces into confrontation with those of their North Atlantic Treaty Organisation ally the United States.

"We call on the Syrian state to do its sovereign duty towards Afrin and protect its borders with Turkey from the Turkish occupier's attacks. and deploy its armed forces to protect the borders", said the statement.

Turkey's air and ground operation in Syria's Afrin region, now in its fifth day, targets US-backed Kurdish YPG fighters, which Ankara sees as allies of Kurdish insurgents who have fought in southeastern Turkey for decades. Ankara views the YPG as a major threat because of its links to Kurdish insurgents in Turkey.

THE FACTS: While the US has provided training, weapons and logistical support for the YPG and the Syrian Democratic Forces it dominates, that aid is not known to have extended west of the Euphrates to Afrin.

On Wednesday, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey's concern was to facilitate the return of 3.5 million Syrians who live in Turkey to their country.

According to the White House readout of a call between the two leaders, Trump relayed "concerns" over the escalating violence in the Kurdish enclave in Afrin and urged Turkey to "de-escalate, limit its military actions and avoid civilian casualties".

The official also denied that Trump had "expressed concern about destructive and false rhetoric coming from Turkey", as mentioned in the White House readout, saying Trump had instead stressed that open criticism of the U.S. in Ankara was raising concerns in Washington.

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However, a Turkish source said the White House statement did not accurately reflect the content of their phone call.

The American officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

Turkey launched Operation Olive Branch on Saturday to remove PYD/PKK and Daesh terrorists from Afrin.

"The degree to which focus is taken off the reason we're in Syria, which is to go after ISIS, is the degree to which it damages the overall effort", said Joint Staff Director Lt. Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie Jr., using an alternative acronym for IS. "We recognize that. And we're working with the Turks to try and minimize it". Other officials have said the aim is to secure Turkey's border and guard against "terror" attacks. Speaking during a Pentagon briefing, he said it's "simply an idea floating around right now" and there has been no decision yet.

When asked in Davos about the safe zone, Tillerson said "we discussed a number of possible options but we didn't propose anything". The Syrian Kurdish group is a main part of a USA -backed rebel alliance that has inflicted recent defeats on Islamic State militants. He said there could be "grave consequences to any miscalculation and escalation".

The U.S. has supported the PYD/PKK - considered by Ankara as the Syrian offshoot of the PKK terror organization that has waged a more than 30-year war against the Turkish state.

McKenzie said that he had not yet seen a movement of SDF fighters moving from the Euphrates River Valley to reinforce Afrin or Manbij, but was watching closely.

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