As the united countries prepare to make their final assaults on a weakened Islamic State, Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that Turkey would be ready to conduct joint operations with the United States. The announcement comes a little under two months after an attempted military coup that sought to oust Erdogan from the presidency.
“Obama wants to do some things jointly concerning Raqqa,” said President Erdogan, referring to the capital of the self-proclaimed Islamic State caliphate. “We said this would not be a problem from out perspective. Our soldiers should come together and discuss, then we will do what is necessary.”
It will not be the first time the two countries have sought a union like this. There have been previous attempts of joining military forces, but both countries have failed to agree upon specific terms, especially with Syria. Both Turkey and the United States have proven to be strong critics of Bashar al-Assad’s presidency of Syria, which has been a major hurdle the two countries have yet to clear together. The United States has proclaimed the Islamic State to be the bigger threat. Turkey sees Assad to be even bigger.
There have been neither specific nor intimate details about the possibility of the two countries joining together. President Erdogan, who spoke to journalists on a return flight from the G20 Summit in China, did not reveal how the exact conversation with President Obama started or concluded.
Turkey has taken a more active role in recent events in their fight against ISIS. Turkish troops have managed to drive ISIS away from the Turkey-Syrian border, but they still have their eyes set on eradicating the presence of Kurdish rebel troops from the region. This is a cause for concern considering the Kurdish rebels have been backed by the United States.
The talks of joint operations are still in the preliminary rounds, so it seems. There has yet to be an official comment from the White House.
