Pompeo's meeting with Turkish FM fails to calm tensions
Mike Pompeo's first meeting as secretary of state with his Turkish counterpart failed to bring a breakthrough in Ankara-Washington ties, as the Syrian city of Manbij remains a potential flashpoint in relations between Turkey and the United States.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu met with Mike Pompeo, his US counterpart, in Brussels last week on the sidelines of a NATO ministerial gathering in the hope of opening a new and more positive chapter in Turkish-US ties.
There was little to suggest, however, that Cavusoglu’s first contact with the new secretary of state resulted in major breakthroughs with regard to the many problems besetting Turkish-American ties.
To the contrary, the readout of the meeting from the US side, and the remarks by Cavusoglu after the meeting, showed that differences remain, even if they are being contained as a result of backstage diplomacy.
Former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s visit to Ankara in mid-February kept tensions between Turkey and the United States from boiling over. Tillerson’s visit came at a time when the two “strategic partners” appeared to be heading toward a military standoff over Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) fighters in Syria.
