Can US convince Turkey to undo 'done deal' with Russia?
Although there are some signs of warming between the United States and Turkey over the situation in northeast Syria, many in Ankara feel it is too little, too late.
The United States is getting ready to ask Syrian Kurds to allow Turkish forces to deploy on the Kurdish side of the Syrian border. It's a move designed to appease Turkey, which has national security concerns regarding the autonomous Kurdish region in northeastern Syria — but the move may not go far enough to please Ankara.
In 2017, I wrote that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan could not simultaneously manage Washington and Moscow, and that he would eventually be squeezed between them. This is precisely the conundrum now with the controversy over Turkey's desire to purchase both Russia's S-400 anti-aircraft missile system and US F-35 jets. Washington says that if Turkey gets both systems, Russia would gain access to US technology.
Earlier this month, Erdogan declared the S-400 procurement a “done deal." He said, "Those who tell us to give up our plans … do not know us."
Less than a week later, Ankara launched a full-fledged “invasion” of Washington with a multitude of senior teams for warm dialogues with US decision-makers. Mutual reconciliatory messages began to circulate, both on the S-400 deal and especially on the idea of setting up a buffer zone in northeast Syria along the border with Turkey.
