U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson (L) shakes hands with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during their meeting in Ankara, Turkey, on Feb. 16, 2018. Turkey and the United States have agreed to surmount their differences on Syria during a critical visit of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to Ankara amid tension between the NATO allies, but experts said that there is no miracle solutions to resolve quickly the strained ties. (Xinhua)
by Burak Akinci
ANKARA, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- Turkey and the United States have agreed to surmount their differences on Syria during a critical visit of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to Ankara amid tension between the NATO allies, but experts said that there is no miracle solutions to resolve quickly the strained ties.
"Turkey and the U.S. reached understanding to normalize relations, there are steps to be taken, Turkey and U.S. decided to form new mechanisms to deal with issues," which are hampering ties, told reporters Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on Friday during a joint press conference.
A first meeting in line of this so-called mechanisms which consists of working groups will be held before mid-March, said the Turkish minister, adding that both parties have expectations of each other and will now work to normalize ties.
"We stand shoulder to shoulder with Turkey against terrorist threats and we salute our partnership with Turkey," responded Tillerson, adding "relations with Turkey are not an alliance of convenience but a time-tested alliance."
In recent months, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has doubled down on anti-American rhetoric by appearing to threaten U.S. troops in Syria since the Turkish army launched a major offensive against U.S.-backed Kurdish fighters in northern Syria nearly a month ago.
The Turkish cross border operation backed by Syrian rebels is enjoying an overwhelming public support where everyone sees this as an existential issue against a Kurdish militia, deployed in the northern Syria of Afrin, that Turkey considers as a terrorist group threatening its border.
For Ankara, the People's Protection Units (YPG) is a branch of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which is blacklisted by the U.S. and EU as well.
Turkey has bristled at the U.S. military's alliance with Syrian Kurds to fight the Islamic State (IS), fearing the YPG will one day help Turkish Kurds make a push for independence.
TIES SOURED AFTER THE COUP ATTEMPT
Relations have spiraled to a breaking point after the failed coup in Turkey in 2016, when Erdogan accused the U.S. of complicity with coup plotters. Washington's refusal to extradite Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, accused of masterminding the botched coup, has added fuel on the fire.
Turkey has sent thousands of troops to defeat the YPG and it threatens to push east into the town of Manbij. where U.S. forces train Kurds and others, leading the Pentagon to warn Ankara away.
"It is clear that those who say, 'We will respond aggressively if you hit us,' have never experienced an Ottoman slap," Erdogan said in response on Tuesday, while the next day his Vice Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag called on Washington to "rectify its mistakes" regarding its support to the YPG and cut off its support to the group and take back arms supplied to them.
But speaking in Beirut before his meeting with Erdogan, Tillerson denied ever giving heavy weaponry to the YPG. "We have never given heavy arms to the YPG, so there is none to take back," he said.
On Monday, both Cavusoglu and Tillerson insisted that the situation in Manbij should be tackled first, seeming to confirm a report from Reuters indicating that Turkey proposed that the YPG stationed in this strategic town withdraw to the east of the Euphrates and that Turkish and U.S. troops host a joint force in the area.
Tillerson also promised that weapons provided by the U.S. to the YGP-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) would be limited and "aimed only at military objectives."
The Turkish president was the first to meet the top U.S. diplomat for more than three hours for tough discussions on Thursday evening in Ankara during his trip in the Middle East that came as Turkish leaders said relations are at "make-or-break" point.
In a very unusual twist, Tillerson broke protocol because he wasn't accompanied by an American translator or any aides.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu translated the talks which were "productive and open" as Erdogan clearly transmitted his country's grievances to the American part, said presidential sources.
NO MIRACLE SOLUTIONS
According to observers, the relations of the two NATO allies have been so strained in recent years that realism should prevail and no miracle solutions seem to be on the table for a quick recovery.
"I don't see relations improving any time soon even though there is some goodwill there. Positions of the two countries regarding the Syrian crisis are opposed for the time being," told Serkan Demirtas, international relations expert and Hurriyet Daily News Ankara representative told Xinhua.
He explained that in order to counter the presence of Iran and Russia, the Syrian regime's allies, the U.S. has decided strategically to stay also open-endedly in Syria even though its primary mission, to defeat IS, is largely completed.
"Negotiations points are restricted between Ankara and Washington," remarked Demirtas.
However, he said that the U.S. "could extend a gesture of goodwill towards the Turks by ensuring that YPG forces evacuate very soon Manbij, to the east of Euphrates," a move that would prevent a dreaded risk of confrontation between Turkish and American troops.
Turkish bitterness escalated after the U.S. aligned with the YPG in 2016, in order to fight IS on the ground and there is no signal changing the U.S. position, commented to Xinhua Oytun Orhan, researcher at the Ankara-bases think thank ORSAM.
The White House, signaling its sensitivity to Turkey's "legitimate security concerns," sent National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster to Istanbul on Sunday to underscore that message over the weekend, but his Turkish counterparts weren't receptive, according to the local press.
After McMaster's meetings, Foreign Minister Cavusoglu warned that Turkish-U.S. ties had hit a critical point, and would either be repaired or completely broken.
In a sign of its anger against the U.S., Turkey decided to rename the street where the U.S. embassy is located in Ankara "Olive Branch," the name of the Turkish operation against America's Kurdish allies in Syria, two days before Tillerson's visit.
A U.S. announcement in mid-January that it would form a 30,000-strong Kurdish-led border force in northeastern Syria sparked this heightened period of U.S.-Turkey tension.
Erdogan accused the U.S. of "building an army of terror" on his border.
"I don't believe that both parties wanted in fact to come to a point where they will draw arms to each other. Neither side is looking to provoke a complete break and that diplomatic dialogue at the end will eventually prevail," said Orhan.
Some observers, however, argued that bilateral relations will never reach the level that they were before. Since 1952 when Turkey joined NATO, the relations evolved throughout the decades as "strategic partnership."
"Relations are surely not what they used to be and will probably never be the same in the future. Maybe it is best for both parties to conceive this reality and move on accordingly," said political commentator Hakan Celik on CNN Turk news channel.
