Turkey insists on exclusion of Kurdish forces from Raqqa battle
Washington prefers to work with the Kurds to oust the Islamic State from Raqqa, but it still wants to keep Turkey involved.
A short time ago, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim clearly declared Turkey’s condition to join the Raqqa operation in Syria: “If the YPG [People's Protection Units] will be there, we won’t be.”
When the Kurds under the umbrella of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) assumed de facto leadership of Operation Euphrates Wrath, Turkey was once again sidelined. But the United States wants Turkey to remain engaged with the Raqqa operation, and assigned Ankara the role of finding the power that will govern Raqqa after its liberation.
