Improved US relations with Turkey, endanger ties with Kurdish allies

Fahim, (c) 2018, The Washington Post ·Mar 10, 2018 -In an effort to repair tattered relations, the Trump administration has told Turkey it will move to rein in Kurdish fighters that have been the backbone of the U.S. campaign against the Islamic State in Syria, according to U.S. and Turkish officials.   

The American pledge, if carried out, would satisfy a long-standing demand by the Turkish government. The Kurds helped to take Manbij from the Islamic State in 2016 and have been there since.   

Turkey has shown no tolerance for any development that strengthens Kurdish political and military groups in Syria, especially along the lengthy border Turkey shares with Syria. Turkey accuses them of being “terrorists” seeking a permanent Kurdish enclave allied with separatist Kurdish militants inside Turkey, known as the Kurdistan Workers’ Party.   

This warming of relations, however, is costing to the United States. Saying they feel let down by Washington, US-allied Kurdish forces are withdrawing from the  fight against the Islamic State in southern Syria to join the battle against Turkey in the north.