Turkey warns US relations at risk if Kurds help retake Raqqa

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

Turkey warns US relations at risk if Kurds help retake Raqqa

By JOSH LEDERMAN
Mar. 9, 2017 7:55 AM EST

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — The United States risks major damage to its relationship with NATO ally Turkey if the U.S. includes Kurdish forces in the fight to retake Raqqa, the Islamic State group's de facto capital, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said Thursday.

Turkey and the U.S. are locked in a heated dispute about U.S. plans to liberate Raqqa, with Turkey insisting its own military and allied forces in Syria should mount the fight and that U.S.-backed Syrian Kurds should be excluded.

Though the U.S. has been hoping to include both Turkey and the battle-hardened Kurdish forces, Yildirim insisted Turkey wouldn't be part of any operation including the Syrian Kurdish force known as the YPG, considered by Ankara to be terrorists who threaten Turkey's security.

"If the U.S. were to prefer terrorist organizations over Turkey in the fight against IS, that would be their own decision, but that wouldn't be something we would consent" to, Yildirim told The Associated Press.

The prime minister also took issue with President Donald Trump's use of the phrase "radical Islamic terrorism" and said "we would be actually happy if our friends were to be a bit more cautious about this issue."

[font size=1]-snip-[/font]

Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/turkey-warns-us-relations-risk-if-kurds-help-retake-raqqa

[DetlefK]

1. Turkey wants to prevent the Kurds from gaining a foothold in northern Syria...

Turkey wants its own allies to settle there once the dust settles. Like the ethnic Turkmens of northern Syria.

Turkey has also set up a military-base in northern Iraq without the permission of the iraqi government. Because Turkey wants to be a regional superpower again.

[CanonRay]

2. Wait! Donald has to go find someone who knows where Turkey is at!