With US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s meeting in Ankara on March 30, he became the first senior official in US President Donald Trump's administration to visit Turkey. The visit took place a day after Ankara declared that Operation Euphrates Shield had ended. Meanwhile, the United States has stepped up an operation to surround Raqqa. Politicians in Ankara wonder whether it is possible for Turkey, which has unsuccessfully tried to convince the United States not to support the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) against the Islamic State (IS), to cooperate with the United States in Syria. What were the United States' and Turkey’s expectations from each other? Will these two strategic partners drift apart or find a common ground?

Tillerson was received by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim and Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu separately. It was interesting that Tillerson was accompanied by Brett McGurk, the special presidential envoy for the Global Coalition to Counter IS, who was earlier criticized harshly by Ankara for his close relations with the YPG.

The main issues in Tillerson’s meetings were recent developments in Syria and the extradition of Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen, who is currently living in the United States. The atmosphere and the messages given in the joint Tillerson-Cavusoglu press conference indicate that the crisis between the two countries will continue. Cavusoglu pointed out that Turkey was dismayed by the Barack Obama administration’s refusal to stop supporting the YPG and said, “We want to create a new energy and momentum in our relations under the Trump administration.” Tillerson refused to make a statement regarding the YPG despite persistent questions by reporters. Tillerson’s statement, “What we discussed today were options that were available to us. They are difficult decisions, to be very frank, they are not easy, they are very difficult choices that have to be made,” did not alleviate Ankara’s worries regarding the United States’ position.

A Turkish Foreign Affairs official told Al-Monitor, “We clearly expressed our expectations. We want an end to the support of the YPG. However, the US seems determined to cooperate with the YPG. Our strategy regarding the US will become clearer in the coming days, but we are saddened at this point.”