US envoy holds talks in Ankara as Turkey threatens to invade Syria
James Jeffrey, the special representative on Syria, met with senior Turkish officials amid renewed threats Ankara could send forces to a region controlled by a US-allied militia.
ISTANBUL — The United States dispatched a senior diplomat to Turkey on Monday for talks aimed at averting a unilateral invasion by the Turkish military into northern Syria as tensions near a boiling point following Ankara’s acquisition of a Russian-made missile system that its NATO partners fear foreshadows a split with the West.
A delegation led by James Jeffrey, the US special envoy on Syria, was in Ankara to meet Defense Minister Hulusi Akar and Foreign Ministry officials. It was not clear what the talks had produced at the time of publication.
It was but the latest round in long-running negotiations over the establishment of what Turkey calls a “safe zone” south of its border in a swathe of territory that is now under the control of the Syrian Democratic Forces, which is dominated by a Kurdish militia that Ankara considers a terrorist network.
The SDF has fought alongside US soldiers in Syria against the Islamic State since 2014 and the United States has vowed to protect them against a Turkish onslaught.
