Trump, Erdogan agree on Syria cooperation

ISTANBUL // President Donald Trump and Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan have agreed to cooperate in the fight against extremists in Syria, in their first phone call since the new US leader took office, Ankara said on Wednesday.

The leaders of the two Nato allies also agreed that the new CIA chief, Mike Pompeo, would visit Turkey this week, a Turkish presidential source said.

During their 45-minute telephone conversation on Tuesday, the presidents discussed acting together in Turkey’s battle to capture the Syrian town of Al Bab from ISIL extremists and taking the main ISIL stronghold of Raqqa.

“Both leaders agreed to act together in Al Bab and Raqqa” in Syria, the source said.

Turkey said on Wednesday, after the phone call, that it was looking to push towards Raqqa in northern Syria in the next stage of its nearly half-year military operation.

Foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu suggested Turkey and its allies could send special forces to take Raqqa, the de facto capital for ISIL, despite being mired in intense fighting against extremists in Al Bab to the west.

“The target after this [Al Bab] in Syria is the Raqqa operation,” Mr Cavusoglu said alongside his Saudi Arabian counterpart Adel Al Jubeir in Ankara.

“As regional countries, as countries inside the [US-led] coalition, we can put our special forces in, we need to put them in,” Mr Cavusoglu added, referring to any Raqqa offensive.

A member of the US-led coalition against ISIL, Turkey in August launched a unilateral incursion in Syria, backing Syrian rebels to clear its border from ISIL and also pushing back Syrian Kurdish militia.

However, the battle for Al Bab has proved the toughest yet of the Turkish incursion, with the army suffering increasing casualties and Mr Erdogan complaining Ankara has been left alone.

Meanwhile a joint US-Turkey operation to take Raqqa was mooted before but never developed further.

Ties between Turkey and the US were troubled under the Obama administration.

Turkey was particularly enraged by US support for Syrian Kurdish militia which Washington regards as the most effective group in the fight against ISIL.

Ankara sees the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) and its armed wing, the Kurdish Peoples’ Protection Units (YPG), as terror groups and branches of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) which has waged a bloody insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984.

The Turkish government has pinned hopes for improved ties under the Trump presidency and the call was being closely watched in Turkey.

In their phone call, Mr Erdogan stressed the importance of the fight against the PKK and said that Washington should not support the PYD and YPG, according to the Turkish presidential source.

Mr Erdogan also said Turkey expected Washington to stand by Ankara in the fight against the US-based preacher Fethullah Gulen who it accuses of staging the failed July 15 coup against Mr Erdogan. Turkey wants the cleric extradited from the US and charges that Mr Gulen runs a group called Fethullah Terror Organisation (Feto) – something he denies.

The source also said that Central Intelligence Agency director Mike Pompeo will visit Turkey on Thursday to discuss security issues. It will be his first trip overseas since being sworn in January.

“He will consult with Turkish authorities’ agenda items particularly the PYD and Feto,” the source said.

Mr Trump and Mr Erdogan also discussed a long-standing Turkish call for the creation of safe zones in Syria, the refugee crisis and the fight against extremist groups, according to officials from Mr Erdogan’s office.

The White House said in their phone call Mr Trump spoke of the “their shared commitment to combating terrorism in all its forms”, saying Mr Trump reiterated US support to Turkey as a “strategic partner and Nato ally”.

* Agence France-Presse and Associated Press