Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan arrives in Washington today to hold what promises to be a bumpy meeting with his American counterpart Donald Trump. The pair are expected to meet at the White House May 16 and much of the discussion will likely focus on a controversial US decision to arm a Syrian Kurdish militia known as the People's Protection Units (YPG), which Turkey considers a terrorist group.

Erdogan says he will seek to persuade Trump to reverse the decision announced last week to provide heavy weapons to the YPG in preparation for an all-out assault on Raqqa, the Islamic State's so-called capital.

The move has plunged US-Turkish relations to a new low, unleashing a tidal wave of anti-American sentiment. The pro-government newspaper Yeni Safak announced that 96.4% of respondents to an informal poll said they viewed the United States as Turkey’s “enemy” and 94.5% said that the United States ought to be denied permission to use the Incirlik Air Base in the coalition’s anti-IS air campaign.

In an unsubtle attempt to give Trump a way out, Erdogan claimed that the decision to arm the YPG was made “under the influence of US officials” who served under the Obama administration. He was probably referring, among others, to Brett McGurk, the presidential envoy to the anti-IS coalition who was kept on by Trump and deeply resented by Turkish officials over his perceived affinity for the Syrian Kurds.