- US plans to supply anti-tank weapons to Kurdish fighters in Syria
- Robert Ford and Fred Hof on the fight against ISIS in Syria
The United States is on a collision course with its NATO ally Turkey, pushing ahead with arming Syrian Kurds after deciding the immediate objective of defeating Islamic State militants outweighs the potential damage to a partnership vital to U.S. interests in the volatile Middle East. – Associated Press
Editorial: The problem is that Mr. Erdogan’s domestic and foreign policies are linked. Once he prided himself on observing democratic norms and sought membership in the European Union and rapproachment with the same Kurds he now bombs and jails. His domestic turn to autocracy has been accompanied by a nationalist policy of strenuously opposing legitimate Kurdish aspirations and deepening ties with Vladimir Putin’s Russia. Mr. Trump should tell him that he is on the wrong track, both in Syria and at home. – Washington Post
Soner Cagaptay writes: Despite his immense power, however, Erdogan still regards himself as an outsider. In many ways, he remains the boy from the wrong side of the tracks, clinging to a lifetime of grievance that expresses itself in a politics of coercion and revenge. This is only exacerbating the intense polarization of Turkish society. Erdogan could halt Turkey’s slide into chaos if he were to overcome the psychological burdens of his past. But this seems a thin thread on which to hang the country’s hopes. – Washington Post
Elizabeth Teoman and Ethan Beaudoin writes: The U.S. should start to reorient its long-term relationship with Turkey during the upcoming meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Turkish President Recep Erdogan on May 16. The U.S. and Turkey suffer from a deep strategic divergence that goes far beyond operational disagreements over the offensive against ISIS in Ar-Raqqa City. The U.S. must instead prioritize its remaining leverage on efforts to halt and reverse this mounting divide and reenlist Turkey as a legitimate NATO ally against the threats posed by Salafi-Jihadist Groups and the Russo-Iranian Coalition. – Institute for the Study of War