Turkey's defence minister says the US chief of staff, Gen Joe Dunford, will arrive in Turkey tomorrow for talks on a possible joint operation to recapture the Islamic State group's Syrian stronghold of Raqqa.
Fikri Isik told reporters in Brussels that Dunford's visit to Ankara would help Washington assess whether Turkey and the United States could act jointly.
Turkey strongly objects to Syrian Kurdish fighters' participation in any operation to liberate Raqqa. It is pressing the US to stop supporting Syrian Kurdish groups that Ankara considers to be "terrorists" because of their links to outlawed Kurdish rebels in Turkey.
Isik said the impression he had from meetings with US officials was that the new US administration does not intend to use Syrian Kurdish forces to retake Raqqa.
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content
