Erdogan made the remarks to journalists on board his plane returning from the G20 summit in Hangzhou, China, where he said US President Barack Obama had proposed the joint action.
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Erdogan gave the impression to reporters that US-Turkey relations were thawing when he was quoted by the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet as saying: “Obama wants to do some things together concerning Raqqa in particular”.
The U.S. and coalition military forces destroyed two oil pump jacks, an oil tank and a headquarters building near Raqqa on Tuesday, according to the U.S. Department of Defense.
He was responding in a BBC radio interview to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s comments earlier this week that a joint U.S.
“That is a critical step in our ultimate objective to liberate Raqqa from Isil (IS) control”.
Turkey has been alarmed by USA support for the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) and its People s Protection Units (YPG) militia which Ankara sees as a “terrorist” group linked to its own Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) which has been waging a bloody campaign against the Turkish state. And the countries sharply disagree over Syria’s Kurdish militias, which Turkey sees as its main enemy in Syria, and the United States sees as its most effective ground partner against the Islamic State.
The Syrian Civil War has, of course, been a nightmare for the Obama administration, and its attempt to “train and equip” supposedly moderate groups opposed to Syrian President Bashir Assad became a total embarrassment when USA arms fell into the hands of the al-Qaeda affiliated al-Nustra Front.
Mr Erdogan’s remarks on Raqqa were printed in Turkish media. “We will carry out the appropriate response … if these type of attacks are repeated”, the statement said.
“God willing, we are hoping for a cease fire in (region of) Aleppo before the Eid”, said Erdogan, adding that President Vladimir Putin of Russian Federation has promised him this would happen in days.
Canikli said that a 772 square kilometre (300 square mile) area had been cleared from IS fighters and was now under control of pro-Ankara fighters.
However it remains unclear how prepared Turkey and its allies are to press deep inside Syria to prise from IS the town of Al-Bab further to the south or even the jihadists’ de-facto capital of Raqa.
Between 250, 000 and 500, 000 people are still thought to live there, with brutal stories emerging of the treatment of civilians.
“Right now we are working with Turkey to help it secure the last remaining part of the border between Turkey and Syria on both sides of the border, which has been one of the avenues, the arteries through which ISIL [ISIL] has supplied itself with foreign fighters, with equipment and so forth, and we are working with Turkey in that respect”.
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It would be an acknowledgement by Washington of Turkey’s continuing strategic interest in Syria.
