Turkey should want US forces to stay in Syria, senator told Erdogan
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – A US senator said he tried to convince Turkish president to support continued US military presence in Syria in a recent meeting.
“I tried to make the case that you want America in Syria because the outcomes of us leaving are not good,” Senator Lindsey Graham told Reuters, the news agency reported on Wednesday.
Graham and Senator Jeanne Shaheen met with Recep Tayyip Erdogan last Friday. He is on a regional tour – also visiting Manbij in northern Syria, Erbil, and Baghdad.
Ankara and Washington are working to mend relations that have been frayed over the jailing of an American pastor in Turkey and US support for Kurdish forces in Syria that Turkey alleges have ties to the PKK.
American and Turkish forces are currently conducting independent but coordinated patrols in the Manbij area – a city that Erdogan has threatened with military action as part of Turkey’s military operations in northern Syria. The cooperation is part of a roadmap for the future of Manbij that Ankara and Washington have agreed on.
The Kurdish YPG forces announced the withdrawal of the last of their military advisors from Manbij in early June.
Graham argued that the YPG forces should remain east of the Euphrates River, saying this “should be sufficient.”
Turkey has conducted two military operations across its border with Syria – the first in the so-called Euphrates Shield area west of the Euphrates River in 2016 and the second in the Kurdish canton of Afrin earlier this year.
“You don’t want any further incursions in Syria by the Turkish military, you’ll get yourself in a quagmire,” Graham said.
Taking to Twitter, Graham said he had a “very good, respectful, and candid meeting with President Erdogan… when it comes to the US-Turkey relationship, failure is not an option.”
Erdogan’s office did not provide details of his meeting with the American lawmakers.
“I tried to make the case that you want America in Syria because the outcomes of us leaving are not good,” Senator Lindsey Graham told Reuters, the news agency reported on Wednesday.
Graham and Senator Jeanne Shaheen met with Recep Tayyip Erdogan last Friday. He is on a regional tour – also visiting Manbij in northern Syria, Erbil, and Baghdad.
Ankara and Washington are working to mend relations that have been frayed over the jailing of an American pastor in Turkey and US support for Kurdish forces in Syria that Turkey alleges have ties to the PKK.
American and Turkish forces are currently conducting independent but coordinated patrols in the Manbij area – a city that Erdogan has threatened with military action as part of Turkey’s military operations in northern Syria. The cooperation is part of a roadmap for the future of Manbij that Ankara and Washington have agreed on.
The Kurdish YPG forces announced the withdrawal of the last of their military advisors from Manbij in early June.
Graham argued that the YPG forces should remain east of the Euphrates River, saying this “should be sufficient.”
Turkey has conducted two military operations across its border with Syria – the first in the so-called Euphrates Shield area west of the Euphrates River in 2016 and the second in the Kurdish canton of Afrin earlier this year.
“You don’t want any further incursions in Syria by the Turkish military, you’ll get yourself in a quagmire,” Graham said.
Taking to Twitter, Graham said he had a “very good, respectful, and candid meeting with President Erdogan… when it comes to the US-Turkey relationship, failure is not an option.”
Very good, respectful, and candid meeting with President Erdogan.
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) June 29, 2018
We have real differences, but far more in common.
Turkey needs to be a strategic partner for the US in a win-win fashion. pic.twitter.com/mCc3AjWvVW
Erdogan’s office did not provide details of his meeting with the American lawmakers.