The Kurdish commanders had long maintained that they could not be America's chief ally and boots on the ground while North Atlantic Treaty Organisation member Turkey carried out airstrikes and ground incursions against their forces. "We have heard that the Turkish armed forces are preparing for a new air operation, but we do not have more specific information on the issue", Sivan said. US forces have also patrolled the Syria-Turkey border to discourage Turkish attacks on the Kurdish militia.
The timing of the announcement was especially delicate as a high-level Turkish delegation including Chief of Staff General Hulusi Akar, presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin and Turkey's spy chief Hakan Fidan had been in the US laying the groundwork for the meeting. But the two North Atlantic Treaty Organisation allies are starkly at odds over their positions toward Kurdish militants operating in northern Syria, known as the People's Protection Units, or YPG.
Mattis stressed the enduring nature of the U.S. -Turkey relationship in a meeting with Prime Minister Binali Yildirim, the first face-to-face contact between officials from the two countries since the U.S. announcement about military support for the Syrian Kurds.
"Every weapon that reaches their hands is a threat toward Turkey", Cavusoglu said in comments that were televised live.
"There's not really much they can do."
In a video conference from Baghdad to the Pentagon, Dorrian, a spokesman for Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve, said USA troops will monitor how the YPG employs the weapons to make sure they are being used only against ISIS.
"Now, Trump faces a possible confrontation with North Atlantic Treaty Organisation ally Turkey - economically and militarily the strongest state in the region, and irreplaceable in any strategy to contain Iran", said Jeffrey, a distinguished fellow at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
"Turkey is a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation ally".
The capture of Tabqa, a key step in the advance on Raqqa, the extremist group's de-facto capital, came seven weeks after the launch of the Kurdish-led offensive, backed by the USA -led worldwide coalition.
On Tuesday, the Pentagon announced that President Donald Trump had authorized arming the YPG.
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"We want to believe that our allies would prefer be side by side with ourselves rather than with the terror groups", he added, saying that whatever happens in Syria and Iraq was a matter of "national security" for Turkey.
The fighters known as Syrian Democratic Forces, which are mostly Kurdish-led but also include Arab fighters, say they expelled IS militants from the Tabqa Dam and the nearby town, also called Tabqa, on Wednesday.
"We are carrying out, and will carry out, all necessary diplomatic communications", Canikli said.
Cavusoglu also said the United States should distinguish between the YPG and their Arab allies in the SDF alliance, and that the Arabs should be the ones to enter Raqqa.
A US official said Thursday that the weapons have not yet been delivered to the Kurds. "Our intent is to work with the Turks, alongside one another to take Raqa down", he said. "If there is a decision otherwise, this will surely have consequences and yield a negative result for the USA, as well", Yaldirim said.
"The US administration still has chances to consider Turkey's sensitivities on the PKK".
Turkey opposes a U.S.
Ankara has long argued that the USA should instead support a group of Turkish-trained Syrian rebels to lead the assault on Raqqa. Their half-hour conversation took place before an worldwide conference on Somalia, and Mattis said he had no doubt the USA and Turkey would "work this out with due consideration and significant attention paid to Turkey's security, to NATO's security and the continuing campaign against ISIS". "They only have different names", he said. The city, the militants' operational command headquarters, is now largely surrounded - its main supply routes cut off by advancing forces.
"Turkey is sure that there will be no independent Kurdish state in the foreseeable future", he said.
Turkey views the USA -backed Syrian Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) as an existential threat.
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