Kurdish-Led SDF Closing In On IS-Held Raqqa, Groups Report

Angered by a USA decision to arm Kurdish YPG fighters in Syria, Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan heads to Washington this week for talks with Donald Trump seeking either to change the president's mind or to "sort things out ourselves". For the US, the PKK is an insurgency that uses terrorist tactics in pursuit of its nationalist goal that does not present a threat beyond the countries that include traditional Kurdish regions, unlike ISIS operates globally, inspiring or directing terrorist attacks in numerous countries far from the Middle East.

"I want to believe that Turkey's allies will side with us, not with terrorist organizations", Erdogan said last week.

Jonathan Schanzer, of the Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies, says: "The Turks see this as a crisis in the relationship".

Even if Ankara could get US courts to act, a quick decision in the Gulen case was unlikely, Arslan said via e-mail.

A USA -backed Syrian Kurdish force expects to push on and capture the Islamic State group's de facto capital of Raqqa in northern Syria this summer, a commander said Friday. Washington, meanwhile, has suggested it will attempt to assuage Turkey's concerns by supporting Turkish security. Moreover, the expert is sure that at the moment the Kurds in Syria, unlike the Peshmerga in Iraq, do not plan any hostilities or subversive activity against Turkey.

Reza Zarrab was arrested in the United States over a year ago and is being held in jail pending trial on charges of laundering money and violating the US's sanctions against Iran. Those include extraditing the Pennsylvania-based cleric, Fethullah Gulen, whom Erdogan blames for fomenting a failed coup last summer, and dropping USA charges against Reza Zarrab, a Turkish businessman accused of money-laundering and violating US sanctions in Iran. The United States was not included in the agreement.

The decision was announced last Tuesday as Turkish officials, including the commander of the Turkish Armed Forces, the head of Turkey's intelligence agency, and one of Erdogan's top advisers were still in Washington laying the groundwork for the meeting between the two presidents.

Nevertheless, personal relations between Erdogan and Trump should be good. After a national referendum last month that strengthened Erdogan's presidential powers, European leaders and rights advocates criticized Turkey for moving closer toward autocratic rule.

Now, the American leader may try to cash in.

Last week, his top military and intelligence officials traveled here for a final effort to stop the administration from arming Syrian Kurdish fighters for an upcoming offensive in Raqqa against the Islamic State, only to be told by their USA counterparts that a decision to do so had already been made.

"The retaking of Mosul and Raqqa is an worldwide security priority", the French government said. "And I think this trip will be a breaking point on this issue". If Erdogan can accept that his expectations cannot be realized because of the constraints of USA law and national security interests but that he will be treated as an equal and there will be no interference or even harsh commentary regarding his domestic policies, these two birds of a feather should flock together for the mutual benefit of their respective national security interests.

This order needs to be assessed in the context that for the better part of two-and-a-half years, U.S. Special Forces have been networking with, training and fighting beside Kurdish SDF in the field.

"It will not be very easy to put relations back on track", Ozel said.

"They can solve their problems in their own country", he said in reference to Turkey.

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