Between Two Stools: US Won't Abandon Either Syrian Kurds or Turkey

In the wake of the recent developments on the ground in Syria, Sputnik Turkiye sat down with Faruk Logoglu, Turkish diplomat and former Turkish ambassador to the US, who commented on US policy in the region and on Turkey's goals in Syria.

"The US won't abandon its cooperation with the forces of the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) and Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) both with regards to the upcoming offensive to retake Raqqa and with regards to its further operations in Syria," the former Turkish ambassador to the US (2001-2005) told Sputnik Turkiye.

"However, the US also has a need to cooperate with Turkey in its fight against Daesh in Syria. Thus it is not going to abandon the Kurds, nor will it turn away from working with Ankara," he added.

The Turkish diplomat also commented on the recent announcement of President Erdogan that if Turkey can get the agreement of both Russia and the US-led coalition, Ankara might still take part in the operation to liberate the city of Raqqa. He noted, however, that his home country does not have enough ground troops to fully participate in the military operation in Raqqa.

Faruk Logoglu was also very critical about the position of the Turkish leadership with regards to the Syrian conflict, saying that Ankara does not understand all the nuances of the Syrian situation.

"I think that the [Turkish] ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) is experiencing certain difficulties with interpreting the recent developments in Syria," he told Sputnik.

In case Ankara goes on with its Operation Euphrates Shield and gets involved in the offensive to liberate Raqqa, he said, it might encounter a minimum of two threats. The first is the threat of a direct confrontation with the Kurdish PYD and YPG forces.

The second threat is the possible confrontation with Syrian government forces. Taking this into account, the Turkish diplomat suggested that Ankara should wrap up its military operation as soon as possible.

In fact, he said, Ankara should have done it long ago. When Ankara was able to clean its border from Daesh terrorists and prevent the creation of the Kurdish corridor during its operation in Jarabulus, in other words, he said, when Turkey reached its clear goals, it should have halted its offensive before it expanded into the Euphrates Shield operation.

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