Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said that cooperating with the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia in a potential offensive to retake the Islamic State-controlled city of Raqqa would endanger the future of Syria. Washington’s policy of “leading from behind” in the war against the Islamic State in both Syria and Iraq, has brought about close-cooperation between the US-led coalition and local Kurdish forces on the ground. Turkey views the YPG in northern Syria, however, as a hostile force with deep links to Kurdish militants who have fought a three-decade insurgency on Turkish soil. Cavusoglu said, during a joint-press conference with his British counterpart Boris Johnson in Ankara, that some YPG militants still remain in the Syrian border-town of Manbij, west of the Euphrates river, despite Ankara’s repeated warnings that they should withdraw and American assurances to that end. The Turkish top diplomat criticized Washington’s cooperation with the Kurdish group, while asserting that the United States was unable to control them.
“For Raqqa or other operations, cooperating with the YPG is actually putting Syria’s future at risk. It is wrong to take the YPG to Raqqa while they are not listening to you (the US) in Manbij. We proved that operations in Syria against Da’esh could be successful by strengthening local forces and supporting them with special forces, like in Jarabulus, Rai and all across Turkey’s border,” said Cavusoglu who added that Turkey, which launched a military incursion to drive Islamic State militants off its borders about a month ago, had demonstrated that the strategy of supporting local groups could be successful and that this approach could be used in Raqqa or even a planned operation to retake the Iraqi city of Mosul – but urged the West to cease cooperation with the Kurdish groups in Syria, and reconsider closer cooperation with what the Turkish Foreign Minister said were “moderate forces.”