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Erdogan outgunned at Trump meeting in face of US-Russian united front
Source: The Guardian
Erdoğan outgunned at Trump meeting in face of US-Russian united front
Rebuff on Syrian-Kurdish issue is part of a pattern of alignment
between Washington and Moscow on perceived threats
Simon Tisdall
Wednesday 17 May 2017 12.39 BST
Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, put on a brave face after his White House meeting with Donald Trump, but there was no concealing that he had come away empty-handed. For this disappointing result Erdoğan can blame, among others, Vladimir Putin.
Turkish officials had billed Tuesday’s meeting as a pivotal moment for the two countries’ troubled relationship, and Trump, sticking to his script, made the expected noises in public. He commended Erdoğan as an important ally in fighting terrorism and singled out the Kurdistan Workers’ party (PKK), which both powers regard as a terrorist faction, as a particular threat.
Ignoring his own state department, Trump stayed silent on Turkey’s poor human rights record, which deteriorated sharply after last July’s failed army coup. He promised to press ahead with US arms sales to Turkey, a Nato member. “We’ve had a great relationship and we will make it even better,” he said.
But Erdoğan’s insistence that the US end its support for and supply of weapons to the YPG, the Syrian Kurdish militia that Turkey says is in league with the separatist PKK, was firmly rebuffed. Turkey’s repeated threats to close its Incirlik airbase to US aircraft and launch more raids across the Syrian border cut no ice, as the Pentagon sees the Syrian Kurds as an effective and dependable ally against Islamic State.
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Rebuff on Syrian-Kurdish issue is part of a pattern of alignment
between Washington and Moscow on perceived threats
Simon Tisdall
Wednesday 17 May 2017 12.39 BST
Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, put on a brave face after his White House meeting with Donald Trump, but there was no concealing that he had come away empty-handed. For this disappointing result Erdoğan can blame, among others, Vladimir Putin.
Turkish officials had billed Tuesday’s meeting as a pivotal moment for the two countries’ troubled relationship, and Trump, sticking to his script, made the expected noises in public. He commended Erdoğan as an important ally in fighting terrorism and singled out the Kurdistan Workers’ party (PKK), which both powers regard as a terrorist faction, as a particular threat.
Ignoring his own state department, Trump stayed silent on Turkey’s poor human rights record, which deteriorated sharply after last July’s failed army coup. He promised to press ahead with US arms sales to Turkey, a Nato member. “We’ve had a great relationship and we will make it even better,” he said.
But Erdoğan’s insistence that the US end its support for and supply of weapons to the YPG, the Syrian Kurdish militia that Turkey says is in league with the separatist PKK, was firmly rebuffed. Turkey’s repeated threats to close its Incirlik airbase to US aircraft and launch more raids across the Syrian border cut no ice, as the Pentagon sees the Syrian Kurds as an effective and dependable ally against Islamic State.
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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/may/17/erdogan-outgunned-at-trump-meeting-in-face-of-us-russian-united-front
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