Combined efforts to defeat the Islamic State (IS or ISIS) and address Turkey's legitimate security concerns involving the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) remain in tact, Pentagon spokesperson Eric Pahon has told Al-Monitor. “Our military-military relationship [with Turkey] continues unaffected,” Pahon said.
The State Department has also asserted that the shared determination in the fight against IS carries on despite Turkish-US relations facing the worst of times in recent history. State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert told Al-Monitor, “While we work to resolve other matters in our relationship with the government of Turkey, we have not seen any change in our shared determination to see [the Islamic State] defeated.”
