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REUTERS
ANKARA
The sacking of US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson may delay a deal between Ankara and Washington to pull Kurdish fighters out of the Syrian town of Manbij, but Turkey still expects US help, President Tayyip Erdogan's spokesman said on Thursday.
Turkey has waged a military operation for nearly two months inside Syria along its frontier against the US-backed Kurdish YPG militia, which Ankara considers terrorists.
So far, the Turkish operation has taken place in Syria's Afrin region, an area where Washington has no troops on the ground.
But Turkey has repeatedly said it also plans to drive the Kurdish group from Manbij, 100 km (60 miles) further east, where US special forces have been based providing support to the YPG to fight against Islamic State militants.
The issue has caused a crisis in relations between the United States and its main Muslim ally within NATO, even raising the prospect of direct confrontation on the ground if the Turks should advance on Manbij without agreement from Washington to pull its troops out of the way.
Tillerson had taken the leading role in recent weeks in US diplomatic efforts to resolve it, visiting Turkey last month and promising to find a solution for Manbij.
But the fate of that initiative appeared unclear after President Donald Trump abruptly removed Tillerson from office on Monday and named CIA chief Mike Pompeo to succeed him.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu had been due to travel to Washington next week, and Ankara had repeatedly said it expected him to finalise an agreement for the YPG to leave Manbij and US and Turkish troops to secure the area jointly. Washington has not confirmed the details of any such agreement.
Following Tillerson's sacking, Turkey announced that Cavusoglu's trip would be postponed.
