Turkey Treads A Fine Line In Syria – Analysis
January 5, 2019 IDSA
By IDSA By Md. Muddassir Quamar*
President Donald Trump’s December 19, 2018 decision to withdraw US troops from Syria received a euphoric response in Turkey. That was not surprising since the US military presence and support for the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) and its armed wing the People’s Protection Unit (YPG) has been a source of friction between Washington and Ankara. A week before the US announcement, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had threatened to launch a military operation in northern Syria to decimate the YPG, which Turkey considers a terrorist organization. In fact, on December 17, Erdogan had said that Turkey is ready to launch an operation “at any moment” to take control of Manbij, a city in northern Syria currently under the control of the US-supported Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). He had also claimed that Trump has given a “positive response” to this Turkish plan.
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