Erdogan, anti-Americanism on rise

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said that anti-American sentiments is growing because of the U.S.’ support for the People’s Protection Units (YPG) in Syria. He added that when he showed to Tillerson all this on a screen, he complained that ‘anti-Americanism is on the rise in Turkey because Turkey broadcast this sort of information on TVs every day. Erdoğan’s statements came as a joint Turkish-American committee continued talks in Washington D.C. in a bid to resolve outstanding problems between the two allies. The U.S. State Department spokesperson on March 8 said talks between Turkish and American officials had begun in the U.S. capital and many issues would be discussed. Heather Nauert told reporters that the meeting is an introductory one where the two nations can work out some of these issues. When asked if Washington was willing to pressure Ankara to stop the Afrin offensive, Nauert said it would not come as a surprise if this issue appeared in the talks. On the Turkish side, Foreign Ministry Deputy Undersecretary Sedat Önal has been presiding over the committee on Syria, Deputy Undersecretary Cihad Erginay on the FETÖ and Fazlı Corman, the director general for South Asia at the Foreign Ministry, on Iraq. According to Turkish officials, the primary agenda of the Syrian committee is Turkey’s demand to remove the People’s Protection Units (YPG) from Manbij, which lies to the west of the Euphrates River in northern Syria. The meeting will be also about FETÖ, Turkey’s procurement of the S-400 missile system from Russia, migration and visa issues.