|
ANKARA, May 15-- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday will have his first face to face talks with President Donald Trump with a tough agenda as Ankara has set it stakes high particularly on the issue of Syria. Trump was the only Western leader congratulating Erdogan after his victory at the constitutional referendum on April which granted broader executive powers to the Turkish presidency. But ties between the Turkish government and the Trump administration have not evolved as Ankara desired since Washington indicated that Turkey's demands are unlikely to be met because the U.S. has firm position on its cooperation with the Kurdish fighters in Syria in its bid to drive the Islamic State (IS) out of the war-torn country. Turkey and the U.S. have been at odds particularly on a couple of issues that held bilateral ties captured. Ankara wants Washington to end cooperating with the People's Protection Units (YPG) against the IS in Syria, saying they are Syrian branch of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). Yet Washington falls on deaf ears on Turkey's concerns, especially over arming YPG fighters ahead of a major offensive to drive the IS from Raqqa town of Syria, although Ankara warns that those weapons could end up with the PKK members. On the contrary, one week before Erdogan's visit to Washington, Trump has given his authorization for the direct arming of the YPG fighters in an apparent message that Pentagon will continue cooperating with local Kurdish fighters as U.S. proxy on the ground for upcoming Raqqa offensive. | 
