Secretary of State Tillerson in Turkey for talks

[nitpicker]

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2017/03/30/secretary-state-tillerson-turkey-talks/99813906/

Secretary of State Tillerson in Turkey for talks
USA TODAY 5:32 a.m. ET March 30, 2017

ANKARA, Turkey - U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Turkish officials on Thursday discussed ways to coordinate the fight against the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria, a day after Turkey said it has ended a military operation in northern Syria. In a statement, the office of Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim did not refer to differences between Turkey and the United States over the role of Kurdish forces in the campaign against IS, saying only that the two NATO allies agreed to strengthen cooperation on regional matters.

Tillerson, who met President Recep Tayyip Erdogan after Yildirim, emphasized that Turkey is important to American security and economic ties in the region.

Yildirim said late Wednesday that Operation Euphrates Shield had ended after its troops and allied rebels secured territory along the border between Turkey and Syria. “Syrians from Turkey have returned. Life is back to normal. Everything is under control,” Yildirim said on Turkey’s NTV news channel. “Euphrates Shield has ended. If there is a need, a new operation will have a new name.”

Yildirim has previously said that the United States risks major damage to its relationship with NATO ally Turkey if the U.S. includes Kurdish forces in the fight to retake Raqqa, the Islamic State group’s de facto capital. Raqqa is southeast of the Syrian area that Turkish troops have occupied.

Turkey has pressed the United States to mount a joint fight to retake Raqqa and wants U.S.-backed Syrian Kurdish fighters to be excluded from the operations. Turkish authorities consider the Syrian Kurdish force known as the YPG to be a terrorist group that threatens Turkey’s security.
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