Tillerson declares US-Turkey relations in “crisis”
By
Jordan Shilton and Halil Celik
17 February 2018
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson unveiled a tentative agreement with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Kavusoglu Friday after a bilateral meeting in Ankara aimed at patching up sharp differences. The meeting was part of a Middle East tour by Tillerson, who made clear that the US is in the advanced stages of preparing a major escalation of military conflict in the region.
A proposed joint mechanism for resolving disputes between the two countries was thin on detail, with neither Tillerson nor Kavusoglu providing information on precisely how it would work. Notwithstanding Tillerson’s depiction of the US-Turkey partnership as “a time-tested alliance built on common interests and mutual respect,” Ankara and Washington have increasingly been at odds over recent months and it is extremely doubtful that this latest announcement will change things.
As Tillerson admitted during the press conference, Washington’s relationship with Ankara had reached “a bit of a crisis point.” Kavusoglu was even blunter. He blamed the US for breaking promises and told assembled reporters that the two countries must decide whether “to mend fences or go in a different direction.”
Turkey remains infuriated by Washington’s reliance in Syria on the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), which Ankara considers a terrorist organisation connected to the outlawed Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) in Turkey. The Turkish military has waged a bloody crackdown on the PKK since the 1980s.
The US has at least 2,000 special forces in Syria supporting the Syrian Democratic Forces, which the YPG dominates, and US warplanes provide the Kurdish militia with air support. Though Washington’s…