US – Turkey have held talks in Ankara about Manbij
The working group will review a drafted road map for the withdrawal of the People’s Protection Units (YPG) from Manbij and for joint control of the city by Turkish and American forces.
A joint mechanism established between Turkeyand the U.S. for the resolution of bilateral problems convened for its first meeting in Washington D.C. on March 8-9. Syria and Iraq were on the agenda after former U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu decided to work on ongoing problematic issues between the two sides, including discord over the YPG presence in the Manbij region of Syria, which will be at the top of the agenda.
The primary dispute between the two NATO allies is the U.S. support for the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) as its local partner in Syria in the struggle against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). Turkey sees the YPGas an offshoot of outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and asks its NATO ally to stop supplying arms to the group and take back any heavy weapons given to them. Ankara also urges the U.S. to keep its promise regarding the YPG’s retreat from the Manbij region to the east of Euphrates River.
