Turkey decides to work together with US in Syria
Turkey will operate together with the United States in Syrian city of Manbij, as stated by the country’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mevlut Cavusoglu.
The Foreign Minister also added that Ankara is considering a "lucrative offer" to purchase a Patriot system from the US.
A day earlier, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg announced that Turkey had agreed to cooperate with Italy and France on the purchase of air defense systems and had also discussed the possibility of acquiring similar systems with the US.
Turkey, which has been considering the purchase of new weapons systems, began to receive proposals from North Atlantic alliance member countries after Moscow and Ankara signed an agreement on the delivery of Russian S-400 Triumph air defense systems in September 2017.
In early April, it was reported that a new US military base was being established northwest of Syrian city of Manbij in the province of Aleppo, which is controlled by soldiers from the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a union of Kurdish and Arab units supported by the United States.
Relations between Turkey and the US deteriorated significantly at the beginning of this year. Ankara repeatedly demanded that Washington leave the east of the province of Aleppo, as the Turkish army plans to protect the entire southern border with Syria from the Kurds. In particular, Turkey appealed to the US to withdraw "US soldiers or YPG terrorists" from Syrian Manbij and the members of the "Syrian Free Army" who help them.
Turkey has been conducting operation "Olive Branch", which is fighting Kurdish formations in Afrin, since January 20. The troops are assisted by militants from the Syrian Free Army, one of the largest armed groups in Syria, and who are also fighting the country's government. Ankara refers to representatives of the Kurdish Democratic Union party (PYD) and its armed People's Protection Units (YPG) as terrorists.