Aaron Stein, War On The Rocks: Drawing Down from Incirlik: A Proposal to Improve America’s Strained Relations with Turkey
The U.S.-Turkish relationship is under severe strain, stemming from an intractable disagreement about Syria policy. To try and mend fences, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson flew to Ankara last week for talks with his counterpart, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Tillerson’s visit coincided with the latest source of tension: Turkey’s cross-border military operation in Afrin, dubbed Operation Olive Branch, in northeastern Syria, and repeated Turkish government threats to expand the operation to include the town of Manbij. The United States conducts regular deterrence patrols in Manbij, so Turkey’s threat to attack the city risked pitting two NATO allies against each other in direct military clashes.
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WNU Editor: The sentence that caught my eye in the above report was this one ....
.... almost every Turkish political party, including the main-opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) and the MHP splinter, the IYI Party, has suggested that Ankara kick the U.S.-led coalition out of Incirlik.
In short .... with the exception of President Erdogan, there is no Turkish political support for the U.S.-NATO presence in Incirlik.
