Turkey demands role in Mosul battle, but coalition unconvinced
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has expressed Turkey’s keenness to be part of the liberation of the two IS strongholds of Raqqa and Mosul, but continuing differences with Washington and Baghdad make this difficult.
With US-led operations against the Islamic State’s strongholds of Raqqa in Syria and Mosul in Iraq looming, Ankara and Washington are engaged in intense talks to determine Turkey’s involvement in them.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has indicated that Turkey wants in on both operations, declaring that US President Barack Obama called for Turkish cooperation in Raqqa during their recent meeting at the G-20 summit in Hangzhou, China. Turkish and American suspicions about each other’s ultimate motives, however, continue to make cooperation difficult.
The US alliance in Syria with the People's Protection Units (YPG), the armed wing of the Democratic Union Party (PYD), remains the main obstacle. Turkey says the Kurdish YPG and PYD are terrorist groups linked to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).
Meanwhile, Baghdad’s insistence that Turkish forces in Iraq be withdrawn, a position supported by Washington, remains an obstacle to Turkey’s participation in the liberation of Mosul.
