Defense Secretary Jim Mattis on Wednesday brushed off Turkey’s demands that the U.S. reverse its decision to arm a Kurdish faction in Syria that the NATO ally considers terrorists.
“We have very open discussions about options and we will work together and work out any of the concerns,” Mattis said to reporters in Vilnius, Lithuania. “It is not always tidy but we work out the issues.”
Mattis insisted he had no concerns about U.S.-Turkish relations or Turkey’s role in the NATO alliance in the wake of the dispute that has angered President Recep Tayyip Erdogan one week before his planned visit to Washington.
Erdogan called on President Trump to reverse the decision to arm the Kurdish YPG militia before the two leaders meet May 16.
Erdogan said the “fight against terrorism should not be led with another terror organization” and that “we want to know that our allies will side with us and not with terror organizations,” according to the Associated Press.
On Tuesday, the Pentagon announced that Trump has approved a plan to begin arming Kurdish fighters who are part of the Syrian Democratic Forces, a loose coalition of Arab, Turkmen and Kurdish forces that have largely surrounded the ISIS stronghold of Raqqa and are preparing to launch an assault to liberate the city.
Turkey says the Kurdish People’s Protection Units or YPG is part of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party or PKK, which both U.S. and Turkey have labeled a terrorist group.
The U.S.-supplied weaponry will be limited to small arms and ammunition, and will be doled out to the YPG Kurds on an as-needed basis, according to a U.S. military spokesman who briefed Pentagon reporters from Baghdad Wednesday.
“All of these items are going to be metered out to accomplish specific objectives for the isolation and liberation of Raqqa,” said Col. John Dorrian.
“We’re going to carefully monitor what’s being provided and what it’s used for, and we are completely committed to make sure that it’s being used for exactly the purpose that we intend.”
He said the U.S.-supplied weaponry will include mortar rounds and heavy machine guns, as well as other unspecified capabilities to help the attacking forces defeat the ISIS’ weapon of choice: the truck bomb.
But Dorrian stopped short of saying the U.S. would supply sophisticated anti-tank missiles, capable of stopping an armored vehicle bomb.
“We’re going to provide weapons that are capable of defeating vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices of the type that we have seen throughout the campaign.”
The U.S. believes this is the only force that is capable of retaking Raqqa on the timetable ordered by the president.
Mattis is trying to walk a fine line, giving reassurance to Turkey, while sticking to the plan to include Kurdish fighters who have proven to be among the most combat effective in the battle against ISIS, to move against Raqqa in the near term.
“Turkey is a NATO ally. … It’s the only NATO ally that confronts an insurgency on its own ground from the PKK and we will work very closely with Turkey in support of their security on their southern border,” Mattis said. “It’s Europe’s southern border and we’ll stay closely connected.”
