FOREIGN POLICY/NATO/REX TILLERSON/STATE/TURKEY: “Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Friday [2-16-18] said the U.S. and Turkey won’t ‘act alone any longer,’ but the North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies fell short of immediate concrete steps to improve what the top U.S. diplomat described as a ‘crisis point’ in relations.
The two countries instead pledged to form groups that will begin meeting by next month to work through shared concerns over their differing strategies in Syria and other tensions…
The allies still appeared to be at loggerheads over Turkey’s actions in Afrin, the enclave in northern Syria where Turkey has launched an offensive on forces allied with Kurdish troops backed by the U.S.
Mr. Tillerson urged restraint in Afrin. Mr. Cavusoglu, meanwhile, said the U.S. and Turkey could only begin to work together in Syria once the main Syrian Kurdish militia, known as YPG, a key ally in the U.S. fight against Islamic State, is moved out of the nearby city of Manbij.”
-Felicia Schwartz, “Turkey and U.S. Promise to Work Together Over Tensions, But Offer Little Concrete,” The Wall Street Journal online, Feb. 16, 2018 06:57am