MESOP NEWS EXPERT SAMPLING: ERDOGAN MEETS TILLERSON – THE RESULTS

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Tillerson Meets Erdogan as Tensions Flare Over Kurds

Editor’s note: There will be no Daily Brief on Monday, February 19, for President’s Day.

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara on Thursday as already fractured relations between the countries have worsened over continued U.S. support for Kurdish forces near Turkey’s border.

No U.S. aides nor an official translator were present at the meeting, which lasted more than three hours. Turkey’s foreign minister attended the discussion (CNN), aimed at easing tensions amid a Turkish offensive against Kurdish forces in northern Syria. Tillerson said the “endpoint objectives” in Syria for the two NATO allies are aligned but that they have tactical differences (Bloomberg). U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis met with his Turkish counterpart in Brussels on Thursday to discuss the conflict, which Mattis said is “probably the most complex security situation” he has seen in four decades (WSJ).

ANALYSIS

“The level of distrust between the two countries over this issue of northern Syria and the implied threats that Turkish leaders had made against U.S. military forces in the area make [a resolution] extremely difficult,” CFR’s Steven A. Cook said in an interview on Bloomberg.

“Turkey will not accept defeat in this battle [with Kurdish militias in Syria] no matter what the cost of victory. This is because a defeat would reflect negatively on the ruling party’s image and reputation domestically and internationally,” Asaad Hanna writes for Chatham House.

“There is a genuine conflict of interest and this is something unprecedented in the U.S.-Turkey relationship,” Lisel Hintz said in an interview with Kurdistan 24.