Bolton to Face Turkey's Ire in Showdown Over Kurd Force in Syria
(Bloomberg) -- U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton will face an indignant Turkey at his meetings in Ankara, following multiple warnings from Washington against attacking American-backed Kurdish forces in Syria.
Top U.S. security officials are due to discuss their planned military withdrawal from Syria, which has encouraged NATO ally Turkey to weigh a new offensive against the Kurds, a separatist group it sees as having designs on its own Kurdish-dominated southeast. Bolton, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Joseph Dunford and James Jeffrey, the U.S. special representative for Syria engagement, are expected to meet Turkish officials in Ankara on Tuesday.
In Israel on Sunday, Bolton said U.S. troops will stay in the northeast Syria until Turkey agrees not go after the Kurdish forces. “We don’t think the Turks ought to undertake military action that’s not fully coordinated with and agreed to by the United States,” Bolton said.
That comment built on frictions that flared on Friday after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in an interview the U.S. wanted to ensure the “Turks don’t slaughter the Kurds” once its troops are out of the region. An enraged Ankara took the rare step of issuing a written denunciation of Pompeo’s remarks.
Massive Buildup
The Turkish military has intensified a massive buildup along the Syrian border since President Donald Trump in mid-December announced the U.S. pullout, a snap decision apparently made during a telephone call with Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Its target is the Kurdish YPG force the U.S. armed to help fight Islamic State and which is viewed by Turkey as a terrorist organization linked to its own Kurdish PKK separatists.
Trump’s decision prompted the resignation of U.S. Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis in protest. Brett McGurk, the chief U.S. envoy for the coalition against Islamic State, also resigned.
“Turkey will resolutely undertake policies necessary for its national security while coordinating its fight against terrorism,” Ibrahim Kalin, a spokesman for Erdogan, said in response to Bolton on Sunday, stressing that military and diplomatic options were on the table. The Syrian Kurdish fighters “are the Syrian arm of the terrorist PKK group and can’t represent the Kurds in Syria.”
The U.S. and the European Union have categorized the PKK as a terrorist group for waging a guerilla war for autonomy that has killed tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians since 1984.
Quick Withdrawal
Turkey has been hoping for a quick withdrawal of U.S. troops from Syria as an offensive against the YPG could help Erdogan consolidate the support of nationalist voters ahead of local elections in March. U.S. officials have refused, however, to give a specific timetable for the pullout, as pressure has grown at home for the country’s Kurdish ally to be protected.
“We want to protect the Kurds, but I don’t want to be in Syria forever,” Trump said last week. “It’s sand. And it’s death.”
With the U.S. preparing its exit, Syria’s postwar future will largely be determined by Russia and Iran, key allies of President Bashar al-Assad, and Turkey. That’s been visible in recent days near Manbij in northwestern Syria, held by the U.S.-YPG alliance. Turkey has deployed closer to the town while Syrian troops have also rolled into the area.
Before his Friday departure for Israel and Turkey, Bolton tweeted he aimed “to discuss the withdrawal of the U.S. forces from Syria, how we will work with allies and partners to prevent the resurgence of ISIS, stand fast with those who fought with us against ISIS, and counter Iranian malign behavior in the region.” ISIS is another acronym for Islamic State.
In Israel, Bolton assured allies that Trump is committed to their protection and that the U.S. troops will withdraw in a way that makes sure that Islamic State “is defeated and is not able to revive itself and become a threat again.”
The national security adviser needs to shore up his own credibility in the Middle East, after declaring in September that the U.S. wouldn’t leave Syria as long as adversaries including Iran, Russia and Islamic State remained in the country, which has been devastated by a civil war that began in 2011.
While Turkey has agreed to shoulder the fight against remnants of Islamic State, it is cautious of any move that could pit it against neighboring Iran.
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