‘Erdogan, Trump agree joint action against Daesh in Syria’

ANKARA — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and US President Donald Trump agreed in an overnight phone call on joint action against the Daesh terror group in the Syrian towns of Raqqa and Al Bab, both held by the militants, Turkish presidency sources said on Wednesday.

US-Turkish differences during former president Barack Obama’s administration impeded the US-led campaign against Daesh, and closer coordination could mean faster progress towards freeing swathes of northern Syria from Daesh.

Erdogan now hopes that relations with Washington, strained by the presence in the United States of a cleric he blames for an attempted military coup last year and by US support for Kurdish militia in Syria, can be reset under Trump.

Turkey has the second largest army in the NATO alliance and is key to any success in rolling back and eventually neutralising Daesh in Syria and Iraq where the radical group declared a cross-border caliphate after lightning advances in 2014.

Turkey has presented a detailed plan to oust Daesh from its Raqqa urban stronghold in northeastern Syria and strategy discussions with the Trump administration are under way, according to Erdogan’s spokesman, Ibrahim Kalin.

“The operational details were not discussed on this call ... Now detailed planning will be conducted in coordination,” he told Turkish broadcaster NTV in an interview.

Ankara believes recent Daesh attacks in Turkey, including a New Year’s Day shooting in an Istanbul nightclub that killed 39 people, have been steered from Al Bab and Raqqa, and regards a clear-out of the towns as a national security priority.

Turkish government and Syrian rebel sources said on Wednesday insurgents backed by Turkey’s military had taken the outskirts of Al Bab, northeast of Aleppo. If Al Bab falls, Ankara would strengthen its sway over an area of northern Syria where it has created a de facto buffer zone.

Syrian government forces have also advanced on Al Bab from the south, bringing them into close proximity with their Turkish and rebel enemies in one of the most complex battlefields of Syria’s six-year-old civil war. But Turkey said international coordination was under way to prevent clashes with Syrian forces.

The White House said that in the phone call, Trump spoke about the two countries’ “shared commitment to combating terrorism in all its forms” and welcomed Turkish contributions to the fight against Daesh. But it gave few details.

Sources in Erdogan’s office said the two leaders had touched on issues including a “safe zone”, as well as the regional migrant crisis and the fight against terrorism. Turkey has long advocated a secure zone for displaced civilians in Syria threatened by extremist militants or forces fighting for Syrian President Bashar Assad.

They also said Erdogan had urged the United States not to support the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia, and that new CIA Director Mike Pompeo would be in Turkey on Thursday to discuss that and other issues with Turkish counterparts.

There was no immediate confirmation from Washington of Pompeo’s visit. But the offices of both leaders said Trump had reiterated US support for Turkey “as a strategic partner and NATO ally” during Tuesday’s phone call.

Turkey has long urged world powers to help create a safe zone, which it also sees as a way to purge its border of Daesh and Kurdish militia fighters, and stem a wave of migration that has caused tensions with Europe.