ANKARA, Turkey �� Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan plans to seek joint action with the Trump administration against Islamic State in its de facto capital in Syria, Raqqa.
Turkish troops are close to capturing the Islamic State-stronghold of al-Bab in northwest Syria and could move via the town of Manbij toward Raqqa, Erdogan said in a televised speech in Istanbul.
Erdogan reiterated his country's readiness to extend its fight Islamic State if U.S. President-elect Donald Trump agrees to prevent Kurdish forces from participating in such an operation. Turkey is concerned the Kurds' territorial gains in Syria could lead to a new state there, in turn emboldening separatist Kurdish aspirations at home. Kurds have established control over much of Syria's north during five years of violence, and in doing so, emerged as a favored U.S. fighting force in the ground war against Islamic State.
"We will not allow the formation of a new state in northern Syria," Erdogan said as he vowed to retake Manbij, which was seized by Kurdish forces from Islamic State. "After Manbij, Raqqa is next if we can join hands with the U.S."
Turkey entered Syria in August to fight Islamic State and the Kurdish forces. Turkey regards the Kurds as terrorists because of their links to the Kurdistan Workers' Party, whose fight for autonomy in Turkey's southeast has, by the government's account, killed nearly 40,000 people, cost hundreds of billions of dollars, and undermined Turkish aspirations to join the European Union.
"We will declare a safe zone cleared from terrorism in northern Syria," Erdogan said.
