Turkey Asks U.S. to Stop Kurds From Shifting Fighters to Western Syria
The request followed an announcement from the Kurdish forces, which are allied with the United States in the fight against the Islamic State militant group,
that they intended to send 1,700 fighters from the strategically important eastern province of Deir al-Zour to the fight against Turkey in Afrin, a Kurdish enclave.
The role in Afrin of the Kurdish militia known as the People’s Protection Units, or Y.P.G., which is the main component of the S.D.F., has raised tensions with Turkey, which considers the militia an extension of a separatist group
that is active in Turkey and is listed as a terrorist group by both Ankara and Washington.
Adding to the complications, the Y.P.G., which has carved out a zone of de facto autonomy from the Syrian government within Afrin
and in a larger swath of northeastern Syria, last week allowed some pro-government militias to enter its territory to help the fight against Turkey.
By ANNE BARNARDMARCH 7, 2018
BEIRUT, Lebanon — The Turkish government took the extraordinary step on Wednesday of asking the United States to stop
Kurdish commanders from diverting their forces from areas of eastern Syria to the fight in Afrin in the west.
Now, the movement of troops away from Deir al-Zour threatens two American objectives there: preventing a resurgence of Islamic State;
and curbing the growing influence of Iran, which sponsors militias that fight for the Syrian government.
Ibrahim Kalin, a spokesman for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, said his country had taken "the necessary steps" through official channels and "expected from the U.S.
that it should absolutely step in" to prevent the movement of the Kurdish forces from Manbij to Afrin.