WASHINGTON DC (Kurdistan 24) - US Secretary of Defense Mark Esper warned Turkey on Tuesday against any cross-border attack into northeastern Syria.
Esper spoke to journalists traveling with him from New Zealand to Japan, as he visited several US allies in the Indo-Pacific region in his first trip there as Secretary of Defense.
Asked about Turkish threats to attack the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), Esper replied, “Clearly, we do believe any unilateral action by them would be unacceptable.”
Nonetheless, later on Tuesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan issued yet another bellicose statement, vowing an offensive into northeastern Syria “very soon.”
The clashing US and Turkish statements came on the second day of military talks in Ankara on the future of northeastern Syria, following the territorial defeat of the Islamic State.
Those discussions continue on Wednesday. The US delegation is led by Brig. Gen. Scott Benedict, Deputy Director of politico-military affairs for the Middle East on the Pentagon’s Joint Staff, and includes David Satterfield, US ambassador to Turkey, and James Jeffrey, US Special Representative for Syria and Special Envoy to the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS.
The negotiations are “tough and honest,” Nicholas Heras, a Fellow at the Center for a New American Security, told Kurdistan 24.
“Going into the talks, the US was gravely worried about an imminent Turkish invasion of northern and eastern Syria,” Heras said. “This threat still exists, and the US military is deeply concerned” that it could be forced “to choose between firing on its NATO ally, Turkey, or being forced to apprehend or fire on SDF units that may attack the Turks.”
With his remarks on Tuesday, Esper became the most senior US official to warn Turkey against a cross-border attack. On Sunday, following a similar threat from Erdogan earlier that day, State Department Spokesperson Morgan Ortagus also issued such a warning.
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However, the White House has said nothing, and Heras suggested that was part of the problem.
It is well known that US President Donald Trump values his personal relationship with Erdogan. Indeed, at the G-20 summit in June, Trump hailed that relationship, saying it had allowed him to convince Erdogan not to attack the Kurds in Syria.