U.S. Compromises Won Turkey's Backing for Kurdish-Led Offensive

[CrimsonFury]

http://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-compromises-won-turkeys-backing-for-kurdish-led-offensive-1468539313


Turkey agreed to back a pivotal offensive in Syria led by its Kurdish adversaries after intense U.S. lobbying that culminated in a secret May meeting, according to U.S. officials, an agreement that could lead to wider cooperation in the fight against Islamic State militants.

The U.S. won Turkish backing for the assault on the Syrian city of Manbij with a series of political and tactical compromises to rein in the Kurds, Turkish, U.S. and British officials said. That included having U.S. special-operations forces and local Arabs play an important role in the fight and arranging for a mostly Arab council to rule the city if it was retaken, U.S. officials said.

The breakthrough came after talks between President Barack Obama and PresidentRecep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey and culminated in the previously unreported May meeting at Turkey’s Incirlik Air Base with U.S. and Turkish officials and representatives of the force seeking to liberate Manbij, according to U.S. and Turkish officials.

Backing the offensive marked a meaningful shift for Turkey, which is fighting Kurdish separatists at home and has long voiced fears that Kurds want to carve out an independent homeland in parts of Turkey and Syria. Turkey had previously threatened to shell a Kurdish-led force if it advanced close to Manbij, Western officials said. Turkish officials didn’t respond to requests to comment.

The deal cleared the way for the Syrian Democratic Forces, largely commanded by a Kurdish militia, to try to capture Manbij and sever one of Islamic State’s last bridges to the outside world. The operation began in late May and the forces are currently about a mile from the city center, according to local residents.

Manbij is an Islamic State stronghold and is important as a potential gateway for attacking Raqqa, the de facto Syrian capital of the extremists’ self-declared caliphate. U.S. officials have also said that Islamic State used Manbij as a hub to dispatch foreign fighters to travel via Turkey to carry out recent attacks in Brussels and Paris.

ENLARGE
Fighters sit in a military vehicle as they advance on the Islamic State stronghold of Manbij, in Syria. PHOTO: DELIL SOULEIMAN/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES

U.S. officials said that if the Manbij operation goes according to plan, more Arabs may be willing to join the Syrian Democratic Forces, which is vital to retaking Raqqa, a larger city with a stronger militant force.

In addition, they said, Ankara may be willing to broaden cooperation if its concerns about the Kurds are allayed. Ankara currently bars the U.S. from resupplying Kurdish ground forces using Incirlik, the base from which the Pentagon spearheads its anti-Islamic State campaign in Syria.

Turkish officials said the deal reflects the consensus in Ankara that Islamic State poses a major threat to Turkish citizens, and a desire for Turkey to boost its counterterrorism efforts.

Turkish military officials and representatives of the Syrian Democratic Forces attended the May meeting at Incirlik, according to U.S. officials.

Ankara had blocked the offensive for months because of concerns that a Kurdish group known as YPG, which commands the Syrian Democratic Forces, would push out Arabs who represent the majority of the city’s population and repopulate it with Kurds, according to Turkish officials and Western officials from three countries involved in the military campaign.

Ankara sees the YPG as the Syrian branch of the PKK, a Kurdish separatist group it is fighting in Turkey’s southeast that Turkey and the U.S. consider a terrorist group. But the Pentagon sees the YPG as the best partner on the ground to help defeat Islamic State in Syria.

Turkey agreed to a U.S. formula for the composition of the Manbij fighting force, according to a Turkish official, with YPG units acting as front-line forces and Arab rebel groups taking logistical and support roles, similar to a U.S. Army battalion.

At Incirlik, U.S. officials provided assurances that 300 members of U.S. special-operations forces currently based in Syria would help conduct the offensive, which was crucial to securing Ankara’s approval for the Manbij operation, according to a senior U.S. official.

U.S. aircraft also flew members of a mostly Arab body called the Manbij Military Council from Syria’s battlefield to Incirlik for the meeting. The U.S. helped set up the council in April. The U.S. and Turkey agreed that the council will administer the city if it is retaken.

“The point of the meeting was to show that the bulk of the force we want to use are Arabs from Manbij and would include a smaller YPG element to fortify the force militarily as they’re good at calling in airstrikes,” said the senior U.S. official.

At the meeting, at least one Kurdish member of the Manbij Military Council promised that the city would be handed over to its majority Arab population after the offensive, according to two Western officials.

Turkish and U.S. officials said the crucial element to securing Ankara’s backing was a U.S. commitment that the Kurds wouldn't try to make Manbij part of an autonomous quasi-state called Rojava they are trying to establish along the Turkish border in northern Syria.

ENLARGE
U.S.-backed fighters advance into Manbij, Syria, in June. PHOTO: DELIL SOULEIMAN/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES
“Turkey welcomes ongoing efforts to liberate Manbij from ISIS,” said a Turkish official, using an acronym for Islamic State. “However, we are concerned about YPG militants staying in and around the city permanently.”

Representatives of the Manbij Military Council and the Syrian Democratic Forces declined to comment on the Incirlik meeting.

Participants in the Incirlik meeting drew up a tactical plan to retake Manbij, which has about 100,000 residents and is 25 miles from the Turkish border. If the offensive is successful, Manbij would be the largest population center in Syria to be retaken from Islamic State.

The Turks agreed to a two-pronged assault, allowing the Syrian Democratic Forces to cross the Euphrates River, just east of Manbij, Turkish and U.S. officials said. Ankara had previously warned the YPG not to cross the river out of concern Kurdish forces would link areas they control in Syria’s northeast and northwest.

The offensive began on May 31, roughly a week after the meeting. The Kurdish-led forces have been advancing slowly because of mines and Islamic State resistance.

An offensive to capture Raqqa largely hinges on success in Manbij and whether the Kurds keep their promises to hand over the city to Arabs, Western officials said. If so, officials hope more Arabs will join the Syrian Democratic Forces.

“The SDF as a force has been majority Kurdish. But as we move into Arab areas, it is shifting,” said the senior U.S. official. “As we move on Raqqa, everybody recognizes that we don’t want to use Kurds to lead the assault.”

—Carol E. Lee in Washington and Raja Abdulrahim and Noam Raydan in Beirut contributed to this article.


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Im sure the promises they made will be kept....

 

[Deliorman]

Another AKP foreign policy win indeed!

Now wait for peace talks with PKK... Biji Erdogan.



ps Sarcasm.

 

[C130]

U.S should just offer asylum to Kurds and other miniorites being targeted in Syria,Iraq, and Iran.

we can easily take in a million or two.

this is what we should have done wit the Jews instead of creating the state of Israel. A Kurdish state will only cause the same backlash lasting decades.

 

[CrimsonFury]

U.S should just offer asylum to Kurds and other miniorites being targeted in Syria,Iraq, and Iran.

we can easily take in a million or two.

this is what we should have done wit the Jews instead of creating the state of Israel. A Kurdish state will only cause the same backlash lasting decades.

That would be very pragmatic. But unfortunately wont happen, anyway we will see what will become of the YPG when the US eventually dumps them (something tells me it aint gonna be a pleasant ride for them).

 

[C130]

That would be very pragmatic. But unfortunately wont happen, anyway we will see what will become of the YPG when the US eventually dumps them (something tells me it aint gonna be a pleasant ride for them).

the YPG are useful. they are very terrorist lite compared to ISIS and Al-Qaeda.

I don't think the U.S will backstab them.

but peace needs to happen in the region and the YPG is a good tool for that.

 

[CrimsonFury]

the YPG are useful. they are very terrorist lite compared ISIS and Al-Qaeda.

I don't think the U.S will backstab them.

but peace needs to happen in the region.

When it outlives its usefulness, which it will one day in the near future (ISIS reduced to an underground, largely ineffective movement) and when there is something resembling a total cessation of hostilities in Syria, the YPG will be forced to give up its motives of federalism or ''canton'' state building. If not they face a lovely trio of 3 countries: Turkey, Iran and Syria -(not sure of Iraq as the KRG isnt opposed,or is atleast tolerated, by the 3 countries I mentioned; although we will see what happens if disagreements over oil profits heat up between Erbil and Baghdad). The Americans and Russians will have to adjust their strategies accordingly as the real probability of an independent Kurdish state is the last drop in the glass for these 3 countries...disregarding such sensitivities would be extremely stupid.

 

[flamer84]

U.S should just offer asylum to Kurds and other miniorites being targeted in Syria,Iraq, and Iran.

we can easily take in a million or two.

this is what we should have done wit the Jews instead of creating the state of Israel. A Kurdish state will only cause the same backlash lasting decades.

lol....you're confirming some stereotypes about American stupidity.Cleansing the natives to make room for the conquerors is downright stupid,it's bad enough it allready happened to Greeks,Armenians and scores of other Christian minorities in the ME,it would be catastrophic to encourage this in our time.

 

[C130]

lol....you're confirming some stereotypes about American stupidity.Cleansing the natives to make room for the conquerors is downright stupid,it's bad enough it allready happened to Greeks,Armenians and scores of other Christian minorities in the ME,it would be catastrophic to encourage this in our time.

cleansing? no, but if these miniories are being harrased and ISIS wants to kill and enslave them and war/voilence isn't the solution giving them a plan ticket to the U.S is the next best thing.

they can start over and thrive in the South West part of the U.S.

taking in Kurds,Arab Christians,Druze,Yazidi wouldn't be that hard.

let KSA and rich Muslim countries take in Sunnis.

 

[-SINAN-]

At Incirlik, U.S. officials provided assurances that 300 members of U.S. special-operations forces currently based in Syria would help conduct the offensive,

the U.S. won Turkish backing for the assault on the Syrian city of Manbij with a series of political and tactical compromises to rein in the Kurds, Turkish, U.S. and British officials said.

Compromises my @ss.....Where did Bahoz Erdal, the planner of suicide bombs and commander of PKK terrorists and leader of TAK got killed ? In the US backed YPG area....US is creating openspace for PKK terrorists.

What needs to be done is, to kick yanks out of İncirlik, pound their YPG allies to ground, preferably, accidentally dropping bombs on U.S. special-operations forces ......They are useless anyways, maybe we should make deal with Russia.

 

[CrimsonFury]

Compromises my @ss.....Where did Bahoz Erdal, the planner and commander of PKK terrorists got killed ? In the US backed YPG area....US is creating open area for PKK terrorists.

What needs to be done is, to kick yanks out of İncirlik, pound their YPG allies to ground, preferably, accidentally dropping bombs on U.S. special-operations forces ......They are useless anyways, maybe we should make deal with Russia.

You talk as if our politicians have the balls to do that. You are in for a grim realization my friend

 

[-SINAN-]

You talk as if our politicians have the balls to do that. You are in for a grim realization my friend

Thats why i said "What needs to be done is"

Let's not say politicians but coward tayyip.

 

[CrimsonFury]

Thats why i said "What needs to be done is"

Let's not say politicians but coward tayyip.

Id say most politicians in Turkey are less than brave.

As for cooperating with the Russians I think it will happen sooner rather than later. Uncle Sam is being a dishonest (to say the least) partner who blinks every time there is a chance for it to come clean with Turkey about PYD/PKK.

 

[Timur]

We just need me I would make my name proud and build scull pyramids

 

[TurkeyForever]

U.S should just offer asylum to Kurds and other miniorites being targeted in Syria,Iraq, and Iran.

we can easily take in a million or two.

this is what we should have done wit the Jews instead of creating the state of Israel. A Kurdish state will only cause the same backlash lasting decades.

Yes take all the kurds we could pay you for it as well

Turkey should ally with Japan, they can give us tech and we can give them all the food they need for free.

 

[T-Rex]

U.S should just offer asylum to Kurds and other miniorites being targeted in Syria,Iraq, and Iran.

we can easily take in a million or two.

this is what we should have done wit the Jews instead of creating the state of Israel. A Kurdish state will only cause the same backlash lasting decades.

A very wise observation! However, not everyone is as honest about it as you are.