US must cooperate to implement Manbij roadmap: Turkey

By Sibel Ugurlu, Sena Guler and Faruk Zorlu

ANKARA (AA) - The U.S. must work with Turkey to implement the Manbij roadmap without further delay, said Turkey’s presidential communications director.

The Manbij deal between Turkey and the U.S. focuses on the withdrawal of PYD/YPG terrorists from the city to stabilize the region, which is in the northeast of northern Syria's Aleppo province.

Turkish and U.S. troops began joint patrols in Manbij at the beginning of November.

"There are some steps that the U.S. can take to alleviate the situation in Syria," Fahrettin Altun said in an article penned for Al Jazeera on Wednesday.

In the article, titled Only Turkey can protect US interests in Syria, Altun said that Washington must “coordinate with the Turkish military leadership the imminent withdrawal of US forces."

Altun stressed that the U.S. must "support Turkey's efforts to re-stabilise and rebuild terror-stricken areas."

Last month, U.S. President Donald Trump abruptly announced plans to withdraw American forces from the war-weary country.

The withdrawal plans came on the eve of a possible Turkish military operation in northeastern Syria against the YPG/PKK terrorist group.

Altun said the U.S. “unwittingly blurred” the line between Free Syrian Army (FSA) -- which is one of the legitimate players -- and the terrorists in the region by backing the YPG terrorists.

The YPG is the Syrian branch of the PKK terror group, which caused deaths of some thousands of people in Turkey, including women and children.

Turkey has long objected to the U.S. giving support and weapons to the YPG/PYD/PKK, arguing that using one terrorist group to fight another makes no sense.

Altun went on to say that Turkey’s only objective in Syria was to address the root causes of radicalization to deny Daesh an opportunity to regroup, to build the physical and social infrastructure to heal the wounds of war, and, by extension, prevent attacks against Turkish citizens.