US President Donald Trump and his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, meet in Washington on Nov. 13. For the sake of US-Turkish relations, or what remains of them, they need a "good meeting." Trump refers to Erdogan as his “friend” and a “hell of a leader.” The stakes are high. If bilateral ties worsen, the winner is Russian President Vladimir Putin and the losers are the Syrian Kurds, who are still counting on US influence with Ankara.
Time to talk
Both Trump and Erdogan operate by summit and personal connections. They know and like each other. Their bureaucracies and staff are mostly background noise until the two presidents meet or talk. Only then do things happen, for better or worse, depending on your perspective.
There is some urgency to this summit. US-Turkey relations, which have been bad for a while, are a train wreck after widespread criticism that Trump "betrayed" the Syrian Kurds by announcing a withdrawal of US forces from Syria on Oct. 6. Three days later, Turkey invaded Syria in a move it dubbed "Operation Peace Spring" to wipe out the Kurdish "terrorists" — who just happen be Washington’s on-the-ground partners against the Islamic State.
The United States and Turkey, NATO allies, don’t and won’t agree on the Syrian Kurds — specifically, the Kurdistan Democratic Union (PYD) and the People’s Protection Units (YPG) — which make up the bulk of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The United States successfully partnered with the SDF against IS in Syria. Erdogan considers the PYD/YPG to be the Syrian branch of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which Turkey and the US both have labeled a terrorist group. Washington sees shades of grey between the YPG/PYD and the Turkey-based PKK. For Erdogan, the PYD/YPG/PKK is equivalent to or worse than IS.
The Kurds have a reservoir of good will among the US military, who have worked with them in the battle against extremists, and with key members of Congress. Meanwhile, US-Turkey relations have sunk over differences in Syria, Ankara’s ties to Moscow and Turkey’s treatment of journalists and activists.
Trump: “They’re no angels”
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