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Top U.S. commander in Turkey after secret Syria visit

Xinhua, May 23, 2016 Adjust font size:

Head of the U.S. Central Command (Centcom) Gen. Joseph Votel made a surprise visit to Ankara on Sunday after his secret trip to northern Syria a day earlier, local media reported.

During his visit, Votel was expected to hold talks with Turkish General Staff and Foreign Ministry officials, daily Hurriyet reported on Monday.

An operation on Syria's Raqqa, the de facto capital of the Islamic State (IS) group, is on Votel's agenda, but Ankara is not planning to contribute to the operation, according to the report.

Votel's visit to Turkey comes at a time when Ankara has been calling on U.S. and its Western allies to stop supporting the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), which is linked to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

Washington has provided air cover and small arms ammunition to the militant group, saying PYD and the People's Protection Units (YPG) are "reliable" partners in the fight against IS.

The PKK is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the EU. Turkey also considers the PYD and its YPG military branch to be terror groups, but the West has refused to designate them as such.

On Saturday, Votel secretly visited the Syrian city of Ayn Al-Arab, also known as Kobane, in northern Syria, where he met with U.S. military advisers and leaders of the Syrian Democratic Forces in order to witness efforts to build up local forces in the fight against the IS, the report said. Endit