ANKARA, Turkey �� Turkey says it's talking to the Americans. The U.S. says it's talking to the Turks. Politicians and generals in the two countries are in almost constant communication, judging by their public comments.
There's no indication that any of this talk has resolved the fundamental argument that's threatening to bring NATO's two biggest armies into direct conflict in northern Syria.
When Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan began an offensive there last month against U.S.-backed Kurdish fighters, he started in an area where American troops aren't embedded with their allies.
But he said the operation will soon extend farther east, to the town of Manbij, where they are. "We'll press against terrorists without taking into consideration who's next to them," Erdogan said Jan. 30. Several ministers have made the same point.
Turkey considers the Syrian Kurdish militia as part of a terrorist group seeking to break off from Turkey. The U.S. has welcomed Kurdish support against Islamic State �� and now that that fight is largely done, leaving the Kurds in charge of about one-quarter of Syria, they're seen as a bulwark against a resurgent Bashar al-Assad and his backers in Iran and Russia.
Russia moved its soldiers in northern Syria out of the way of the advancing Turks. The U.S. is signaling it won't do the same.
Withdrawing from Manbij is "not something we're looking into," Army Gen. Joseph Votel, the head of U.S. Central Command, told CNN.
"Wherever U.S. troops are, they're going to be able to defend themselves," Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, joint staff director at the Pentagon, said Jan. 25. "We coordinate very closely on that," he said of the Turks. "They know where our forces are."
U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Friday that it is possible to balance the alliance with Turkey while still supporting the Kurds, and suggested that having U.S. troops working with the Kurdish militias in Syria was one way of helping Turkey's security.
"We are convinced right now that by having our troops on the ground, we know they're not contributing to any attacks on Turkey," Mattis said.
Ties between the U.S. and Turkey have been tense for years, and when there's a flare-up, Turkish financial markets usually take a hit. Turkey blames the U.S. for hosting the Islamic preacher it accuses of instigating a failed coup in 2016. The U.S. last year prosecuted a senior Turkish banker for breaking Iran sanctions. Both countries briefly stopped issuing visas for each other's citizens.
Turkey's attack on Kurdish fighters in Afrin, in northwest Syria, came soon after the U.S. announced that it would help Syrian Kurds set up a 30,000-strong border security force. Washington later backed off that description.
It was probably the new unit's existence, not its name, that concerned Erdogan. The American focus on such details has angered Turkey before. At a meeting in Colorado last summer, Army Gen. Raymond Thomas told how he persuaded the Syrian Kurdish fighters to change their "brand," and distance themselves from the PKK, the Kurdish group fighting for self-rule in Turkey.
U.S. officials stress that they understand Turkish security concerns. Turkey's deputy prime minister, Bekir Bozdag, said his government wants to avoid a confrontation, though he added that the U.S. "should warn its operatives in the field not to face off with Turkey."
Erdogan visited the army operation center near the Syrian border last week. He praised Turkish officers for "rebuilding the nation's history."
The president may have domestic political reasons for his campaign too. Public support is running strong, with polls suggesting more than 80 percent of Turks back the operation, and opposition leaders (except the local Kurdish party) falling in line.
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(Syeed reported from Washington.)
