Global Geo-Political Series: Erdogan to visit Trump to diffuse Kurdish weapon support tension

Amid rising tensions between the two countries, the Turkish president Tayyip Erdogan will meet his United States’ counterpart Donald Trump in the White House.  The White House press secretary Sean Spicer announced the visit and said that the President would discuss strengthening ties between the United States and Turkey.  He added that the two leaders would work to deepen cooperation to confront terrorism in all its forms.

The meeting comes amid heightened tensions as President Trump approved supplying weapons to rebel groups in the region such as Kurdish militia, which Turkey considers as a terrorist group. The United States has decided to give necessary forces, a range of small arms and munitions to assist them in their push towards the de-facto capital of the Islamic State, Raqqa.  Several Turkish high officials have criticized the move. Turkey’s foreign minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, said: “Both the PKK and YPG are terrorist organizations and they are no different apart from their names…….Every weapon seized by them is a threat to Turkey.” Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said that the move will have consequences and will yield a negative result for the United States.