Tillerson arrives in Ankara seeking to ease tensions

ANKARA, Feb 15 (AFP): US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson arrives in Turkey on Thursday seeking to ease tensions with its NATO ally that have reached fresh heights over Ankara's ongoing operation inside Syria.

During his two-day trip to the Turkish capital, Tillerson-who last visited in July 2017 -- will hold talks with Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Turkey's operation against a Kurdish militia in Syria has added a potentially insurmountable new problem to the litany of issues clouding the relationship between Washington and Ankara.

Analysts said the level of tension was similar to 2003 when Turkey refused to let US troops operate from its territory for the Iraq war, or even the aftermath of Ankara's invasion of Cyprus in 1974.

Turkey's operation against the People's Protection Units (YPG), which Ankara blacklists as a terror group, has seen troops fighting a militia which is closely allied with the US in the battle against jihadists.

And Erdogan has further upped the ante by warning US troops to steer clear of Manbij, a YPG-held town east of Afrin where the main operation is happening, raising fears of a clash.

"We are going to go to Manbij and if they are there, it's too bad for them," a senior Turkish official told AFP.

When a US commander told the New York Times it would respond "aggressively" to any attack by Turkey, Erdogan didn't mince his words.

"It's very clear that those who make such remarks have never experienced an Ottoman slap," he said, using the term for a backhander which, according to legend, could kill an opponent in one stroke.

For Ankara, the YPG is linked to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party, which is blacklisted as a terror outfit by the US and the EU.

But for Washington, the YPG is an ally.

On Tuesday, Tillerson said Turkey's operation "detracted" from the fight against Islamic State jihadists, saying Kurdish fighters had been "diverted" from where they were really needed in order to fight in Afrin.

Former State Department official Amanda Sloat told AFP Washington did not appear to have "developed a clear way forward on Syria nor determined how its plans address Turkish security concerns".

Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson held talks with Prime Minister Saad Hariri on Thursday in Beirut where he offered Washington's support for a "free and democratic" Lebanon.

Tillerson's visit, part of a tour of the Middle East, comes at a time of tension between Lebanon and neighbouring Israel, notably over the role of Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah.

The Iran-backed group, a member of Hariri's government, is an arch-foe of Israel and branded a "terrorist" organisation by the United States.

It is a key ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and has fighters on the ground in the war-torn country supporting the regime.

Hezbollah's influence was at the heart of a political crisis in Lebanon over Hariri's shock resignation announced from Saudi Arabia in November that was later rescinded.

"The United States stands with the Lebanese people for a free and democratic Lebanon," Tillerson, the highest-ranking US official to visit the country in four years, wrote in the visitors' book after talks with President Michel Aoun.