MESOP NEWS BACKGROUNDER: Turkey Tries to Deter US Over Raqqa Offensive &Kurdish YPG Militia

By Scott Lucas – 2 May 2017 – eaworldview  – Turkish officials put out warnings before Trump-Erdoğan meeting in mid-May

The Turkish Government has openly declared its intention to deter the US from any cooperation with the Kurdish militia YPG in an offensive to take ISIS’s central position in Syria, the city of Raqqa. Turkish officials put out the message through media on Sunday that the US is considering a start to the long-delayed operations, “immediately after President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s first in-person meeting with President Donald Trump in mid-May”.

The Turks have tried for months to dissuade Washington from any involvement of the YPG, which leads the US-supported Syrian Democratic Forces, from involvement in the Raqqa offensive. Ankara considers the Syrian Kurdistan Democratic Party (PYD) as part of the Turkish Kurdish insurgency PKK.

The political disagreement has been part of the reason for the months-long pause in the drive towards Raqqa in northern Syria. However, the SDF has recently made substantial gains: it has taken part of the Tabqa Dam on the Euphrates River, and last weekend it moved into most of Tabqa town, 40 km (25 miles) west and upstream from Raqqa.

Meanwhile, the situation was complicated last week by Turkey’s first airstrikes against YPG positions, accompanied by attacks on the PKK in northern Iraq. Up to 30 YPG fighters were killed in northeastern Syria, and the bombing was followed by cross-border fire from both sides and clashes in the Syrian village of Darbasiyah near the border.

The US quickly showed support for the YPG as “our partners”. An American commander was photographed with YPG counterparts touring the bombed site, and US forces and armored vehicles were deployed along the border near Darbasiyah.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Sunday that Ankara is “seriously saddened” to see the US deployment and warned that the YPG “needs to be stopped right now”. If necessary, he said, Turkey will “take matters into its own hands”.

Primed by Erdoğan’s officials, the daily Hurriyet wrote on Tuesday: “Despite the presence of U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis, who has been appreciated by Ankara for his acknowledgement on Turkey’s sensitivities over the PKK, the Pentagon has not changed its original plans for the liberation of Raqqa from the jihadists.”

The newspaper asserted that the State Department has tabled various proposals to address the issue, including a long-term plan for a siege of Raqqa rather than an assault with the YPG; a restructuring of the SDF with Arab forces taking command; and a “dialogue for the establishment a new structure in which all Syrian Kurds and other ethnic groups are equally represented” and the PYD’s dominance is “broken”. www.mesop.de