Until now, the Turkish government has condemned all those claiming it supports extremist terror groups in Syria. The government, however, has been maintaining silence since Francis Ricciardone, US ambassador to Turkey until July, said openly last week that Turkey has actually worked with al-Qaeda affiliate groups in Syria such as Jabhat al-Nusra and Ahrar al-Sham. “The Turks frankly worked with groups for a period, including Jabhat al-Nusra, whom we finally designated as we’re not willing to work with,” Ricciardone said Sept. 12, emphasizing that the Turkish side believed that Turkey could benefit from the groups' fighting ability against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and at the same time reshape them to become more moderate.

Although Ricciardone became the first US official — albeit a newly retired one — to openly speak out against Turkey’s mishandling of these terror groups, a US official speaking to the McClatchy news service on Sept. 12 disputed that the Turks directly worked with Jabhat al-Nusra, instead arguing that Ankara allowed the group operating space. “For quite a while, Turkey, at the very least, turned a blind eye to it,” the US official said. “It’s only in recent months that they’ve done a 180 and now recognize the dangers posed by [IS] and other extremists.”

US Secretary of State John Kerry, however, gave a more positive message when he was in Ankara on that same day, Sept. 12. “Since 2011, Turkey has opened its doors to roughly 1.3 million Syrian refugees, and more recently they’ve had a huge influx of Iraqi refugees who are fleeing [IS],” Kerry said, standing next to his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu. “The United States and indeed the entire international community are very grateful for Turkey’s generosity in providing shelter and care, food, to these refugees.” Kerry added, “So let me be very clear about the US-Turkey relationship in this coalition. Turkey and the United States will stand together against any challenges in the region, including all terrorism. Within the coalition there are many ways that Turkey can help in this effort, and we will continue our conversations with our military and other experts spending time to define the specific role that Turkey will play.”

While Turkey is clearly hesitant about fully coming on board in support of the US-led coalition in the fight against IS militants in Syria and Iraq, these conflicting US messages were attention-grabbing, coming as they did on the heels of the German weekly Der Spiegel’s August reporting that US, British and German intelligence agencies spied on Turkey. Could the spying have had to do with the Turkish government’s alleged support of these terror groups? A Wall Street Journal editorial took the West's unease to new heights on Sept. 15, saying, “Incirlik has been a home for US forces for nearly 60 years, but perhaps it's time to consider replacing it with a new US air base in Kurdish territory in northern Iraq.” The editorial also stressed that since Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel listed a “core coalition” of 10 countries in the fight against IS, Britain categorically ruled out military strikes in Syria, Germany ruled out any use of force and Turkey is now backpedaling.