Syrian Kurds are snag in U.S.-Turkey strategy against Islamic State
Syrian Kurds a snag in U.S.-Turkey strategy against Islamic State
(about 7 hours later)
ISTANBUL — Turkey and the United States continued Saturday to disagree about the status of Syrian Kurdish forces who have become a key part of the U.S. strategy to defeat the Islamic State in Syria.
ISTANBUL — Turkey and the United States continued Saturday to disagree about the status of Kurdish forces who have become a key part of the U.S. strategy to defeat the Islamic State in Syria.
In statements after two hours of meeting here, Vice President Biden and Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu praised the U.S.-Turkish alliance. The partnership is “enduring, it’s rooted in history, it’s in the hearts of our people,” Biden said. “Turkey is a strategic partner.”
In statements after a two-hour meeting here, Vice President Biden and Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu praised the sometimes rocky U.S.-Turkish alliance. Calling Turkey a “strategic partner,” Biden said the relationship is “enduring, it’s rooted in history, it’s in the hearts of our people.”
But while saying ties with the United States were strong, Davutoglu repeatedly referred to the Syrian group — called the People’s Protection Units and known by its Arabic initials as the YPG — as a terrorist organization on par with the Islamic State and as a component part of Turkey’s own Kurdish militants, who have long used violence to try to carve out their own state inside the Turkish border.
But in the stew of overlapping conflicts, regional rivalries and competing interests in the civil war in Syria, and the expansion of the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, U.S.-Turkey ties have often been strained. Biden’s visit here was intended to shore it up, officials traveling with him said, and to add some high-level impetus to resolving a range of issues.
“We shared this vision” with Biden, Davutoglu said. “It’s good to see we’re on the same page.”
Standing at Biden’s side for statements after their meeting, Davutoglu repeatedly referred to Syrian Kurds allied with the United States — a fighting force called the People’s Protection Units and known by its Arabic initials as the YPG — as a terrorist organization on par with the Islamic State and in league with Turkish Kurds, who have recently escalated a long-standing campaign of secessionist violence in southeastern Turkey.
Despite Davutoglu’s frequent references to the “terrorist” YPG, Biden never mentioned them. He referred only to Turkey’s Kurdistan Workers Party, known as the PKK, which the United States agrees is a terrorist organization.
“We want to make sure, because it’s such an important relationship . . . that there is no misunderstanding” with Turkey, Biden said. “That where we agree, we agree with precision; where we have disagreement, we state it flatly.” On strategic issues, including the need to work together to defeat the Islamic State, he said, “there is no disagreement.”
[Biden criticizes crackdown on dissent in Turkey]
[Biden criticizes crackdown on dissent in Turkey]
Biden, standing beside Davutoglu as the two delivered statements without taking questions, agreed that the Turkish Kurdistan Workers Party, known as the PKK, is a terrorist group and has been labeled as such by the U.S. government. But he never mentioned the Syrian Kurds.
The Syrian Kurds have become a major sticking point, both in U.S.-Turkey collaboration against the Islamic State and in coming negotiations to end a civil war in Syria that the United States considers a distraction from the larger anti-terrorist fight. The negotiations, between representatives of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government and Syrian opposition forces, were scheduled to begin Monday in Geneva but now appear to have been postponed.
“We want to make sure, in such an important relationship, that there’s no misunderstanding,” Biden said. “Where we are in agreement, we agree with precision. Where we have disagreement, we state it flatly.” On strategic issues, including the need to work together to defeat the Islamic State, he said, “there is no disagreement.”
Secretary of State John F. Kerry, after meeting in Riyadh with foreign ministers from the six nations in the Gulf Cooperation Council, said he was confident that an initial negotiating session would take place. The warring participants won’t be at the same table or even in the same room, but they will be at the same venue while U.N. Special Envoy Staffan de Mistura acts as a go-between.
Biden also briefly made additional headlines when he appeared to say that the United States was prepared to use military force in Syria’s civil war if negotiations to forge agreement over a transitional government failed.
“We want to keep the process moving and put to full test the readiness and willingness of people” to achieve peace, Kerry said,
“We do know that it would be better if we can reach a political solution. But we are prepared if that’s not possible to have a military solution to this operation in taking out Daesh,” he said, using the Arabic term for the Islamic State, which is also referred to as ISIL and ISIS.
Kerry noted that there are sharp divisions over the future of Assad. The United States insists that Assad must eventually leave power and elections be called within 18 months of a cease-fire and peace talks starting.
Biden officials later said there was no change in U.S. policy not to interfere militarily in the civil war and that Biden was referring to ongoing U.S. commitment to the military fight against the Islamic State, regardless of what happens in the Syrian negotiations.
“We know that the war in Syria cannot end — it’s not that it will not end, it’s not that people choose otherwise — it’s that it cannot end, because he is the magnet that attracts the violent terrorism and jihadis who will continue to come as long as he or his supporters insist he is a part of a long-term future,” Kerry said.
“The vice president was making the point that even as we search for a political solution to the broader Syrian civil war, we are simultaneously pursuing a military solution against Daesh. There is no change in U.S. policy,” said a senior Biden official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to clarify the vice president’s remarks.
Part of the reason for the delay is a dispute between Russia and Turkey, which shot down a Russian fighter jet that crossed over its border from inside Syria in November. Russia, which provides military assistance to Assad, has joined the United States in promoting the negotiations. But it insists, in what appears to be an effort to strike back at the Turks, that the YPG be included as part of the opposition delegation. If that happens, Turkey has said it will withdraw its support for the talks.
Later Saturday, Biden met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The status of the Syrian Kurds has become a major sticking point in both U.S.-Turkey collaboration in the fight against the Islamic State, and in the upcoming negotiations between President Bashar al-Assad’s regime and Syrian opposition forces fighting against it.
[Turkey fires at U.S.-allied Kurds in Syria]
[Turkey fires at U.S.-allied Kurds in Syria]
The negotiations, scheduled to begin Monday in Geneva, now appear to have been postponed, at least until later in the week.
With the bulk of the Syrian opposition focused on fighting Assad, the United States last year turned to the YPG as a capable fighting force — and the only one available to it with thousands of fighters — to wage war against the Islamic State on the ground. Since early last year the Syrian Kurds have gradually cleared much of the Syrian side of the lengthy Turkish border, supported by U.S. airstrikes.
As much of the Syrian opposition has turned its attention to Assad, the United States has found the Kurds among the only available forces, and one of the most capable, to fight against the Islamic State on the ground as U.S. airstrikes pummel the militants.
Turkey does not want them to move any farther, particularly to the western portion of the frontier, where a 65-mile strip remains under Islamic State control, and is used for moving foreign fighters and goods into Syria.
Meanwhile, Russia, which along with the United States is shepherding the Assad-opposition negotiations, is at odds with Turkey and has insisted that the YPG, as a potent force in Syria, be included as part of the opposition delegation. The rest of the opposition has refused, and Turkey, an important backer of the process, has said it will withdraw its support for the talks.
Both the United States and Turkey want to drive the remaining militants from the area but have so far failed to assemble a mutually agreeable, non-Kurdish force to occupy it on the ground. “The challenge is getting enough warm bodies willing to prioritize the fight against [the Islamic State] over the fight against Assad” in western Syria, said a senior Biden official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the talks with Turkey.
Biden also said that as the administration official with the most experience dealing with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, he hoped to settle a related dispute between Iraq and Turkey.
Turkey says it can supply hundreds, if not thousands, of Syrian Arab and other non-Kurdish opposition fighters for the mission, but it has been slow to do so. The administration, wary of the involvement of Islamist groups within the opposition that Turkey supports, has insisted on a list of names it can vet before arming the fighters and coordinating airstrikes with them. Part of Biden’s mission here was to speed that process.
Turkey has increased its troop presence in northern Iraq near the Turkish border, where it is training Iraqi Kurdish forces, in what Iraq charges is an attempt to take action against the PKK, whose guerrilla camps are located nearby.
Long accused of hedging its bets with the Islamic State and allowing passage across its border, Turkey has “taken some very important steps to improve” the situation, Biden said. “American and coalition aircraft are operating out of Turkish bases” and have “ramped up the air campaign against ISIL targets to the highest tempo since the beginning” of the airstrikes in the fall of 2014, he said. ISIL is another name for the Islamic State.
Calling it a violation of Iraqi sovereignty, Abadi has demanded the Turks withdraw and has threatened to invite Russia in to bomb them. Since September, Russia has been using airstrikes against anti-Assad forces in Syria.
Biden also solidified a U.S. offer of border-monitoring assistance, including aerostat balloon-mounted cameras and tunnel-detection equipment, along with increased intelligence sharing to give the Turks more visibility on the border.
“I’m self-appointed to see if I can work out something between my good friend the prime minister of Turkey and my good friend the prime minister of Iraq to see if we can work out a modus vivendi on the same page,” Biden said.
Morello reported from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
[Report: Kurds displacing Arabs in Iraq in what could be ‘war crimes’]
Biden and Davutoglu also said they pored over maps of the Turkish border in northwest Syria, where they hope to join together in support of Arab Syrian opposition forces fighting to remove a remaining border pocket of the Islamic State. The two governments have struggled to agree on which Syrian groups are sufficiently vetted to be supported by airstrikes and to receive increased weapons support.
Turkey, which also has long been accused of allowing foreign fighters and weapons to reach the militants along the border, has “taken some very important steps to improve” the situation, Biden said. “American and coalition aircraft are operating out of Turkish bases” and have “ramped up the air campaign against ISIL targets to the highest tempo since the beginning” of the coalition operation in the fall of 2014, he said.
The two discussed “how we can better support local forces on the ground that we jointly” support to move into the area on the ground. The United States has also offered increased intelligence and border security equipment to Turkey, discussed in a visit here early this month by Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
In talking about their “shared mission” against the Islamic State, Biden said, “we got very precise. We do believe that our plans together have matured, gotten more coordinated, and we’re increasingly making progress.”
Biden’s delegation also includes experts on regional energy issues. The Obama administration sees Turkey as key to rerouting gas and oil supplies to eastern Europe that currently come from Russia. European dependence on those supplies has made those countries reluctant to cross the Russians on a range of issues. At the same time, the administration is promoting a rapprochement between Turkey and Israel, which would like to sell natural gas.
Davutoglu also referred to Biden’s critical remarks about human rights in Turkey. On Friday, the vice president met with civil society leaders and journalists and criticized the Turkish government’s moves to curtail freedom of speech and the media — including the recent arrest of dozens of academics who called on the government to stop military operations against alleged PKK-allied villages in Turkey’s southeast.
“We will always listen to the opinions of our allies and friends,” Davutoglu said. “But no ally, no friendly nation, should expect us to tolerate any armed forces other than the legitimate armed forces” of the government, on Turkish territory.
“If al-Qaeda was present in any province of the United States or Europe, Turkey’s stand would be loud and clear” in support, he said. “We expect the same clear vision from the United States, which deems the PKK a terrorist organization. We are happy this is the case.”
Biden, while continuing not to mention the YPG — the Syrian Kurds — said that “we agree with you” that there is “no substantive difference” between the PKK, the Islamic State and Jabhat al-Nusra, the other main Islamist terrorist group in Syria. “Here in Turkey, they threaten and do harm,” he said. “We do recognize that.”
