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US president-elect Donald Trump knows better than to continue Washington’s backing for Kurdish fighters over supporting the security needs of its NATO ally Turkey, Ankara’s top diplomat said Sunday.
“When we look at it from America’s interests, as a mathematical calculation — whether Turkey or a terrorist organisation like the PKK is more important — Mr Trump sees the mathematics immediately,” Hakan Fidan told a news conference in Damascus.
Turkey has long been rankled by United States support for the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in northern Syria. Ankara sees the main component of the SDF, the People’s Protection Units (YPG), as an extension of its outlawed domestic foe the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
But Washington has long seen the SDF — which spearheaded the fight that defeated Islamic State group jihadists in 2019 — as crucial to preventing a jihadist resurgence in the area.
It also has its own troops in northern Syria as part of an international coalition against the jihadists, with the Pentagon saying last week that their number had doubled this year to around 2,000.
Turkey is hoping that Trump will decide to pull out the US forces — a step he almost took last time in office.
Trump saw “there is no need for America to be here. He could not understand why (US troops) are there, what the benefit would be,” Fidan said, adding the incoming United States leader was likely to shake up the status quo.
“I believe that Mr Trump will approach this issue differently in the new term, with a more determined and stronger will, that only prioritises American interests,” he said.
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