ANKARA: Turkish
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan sent more troops to Syria's border ahead of an
imminent US withdrawal, as the White House announced he had invited Donald
Trump to Ankara. Unlike several other allies of the United States, Turkey has
praised President Trump's decision to withdraw 2,000 of his ground forces from
Syria, a country where it will now have a freer rein to target Kurdish
fighters.

On Monday, Ankara
sent more troops to its Syrian border and said an offensive targeting the
Syrian Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) militia and IS group will be
launched in the coming months. Turkey views the YPG as a "terrorist
offshoot" of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has waged
an insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984. But the militia has also
been a key US ally in the fight against Islamic State in Syria, working with
American forces on the ground there.

"Just as we
did not leave our Syrian Arabs to Daesh (IS), we will not leave Syrian Kurds to
the cruelty of the PKK," Erdogan said during a speech in Ankara. A Turkish
military convoy arrived overnight on Monday at the border with local media
reporting that some vehicles had entered Syria. In a telephone conversation
Sunday between Trump and Erdogan, which both sides described as
"productive", they agreed to avoid a power vacuum in Syria after the
US withdrawal.

"President
Erdogan invited President Trump to visit Turkey in 2019. While nothing definite
is being planned, the President is open to a potential meeting in the
future," a White House spokesperson later said on Monday evening.  Erdogan's spokesman Ibrahim Kalin told
reporters on Monday that a US military delegation would arrive this week to
"discuss how to coordinate (the withdrawal) with their counterparts".
A Turkish foreign ministry delegation would go to Washington for talks early
January, he added.

Trump stunned the
US political establishment and allies last week with his decision, days after
Erdogan had warned that Ankara would soon launch an offensive in northern
Syria. Critics of Trump's decision fear that thousands of Islamic State (IS)
group extremist members are still thought to be in Syria, despite Trump's claim
of having defeated IS. The US leader tweeted that Erdogan had told him Ankara
would "eradicate" the last IS elements. And Kalin vowed that there
was "no question of a step backwards, vulnerability or a slowdown in the
fight against Daesh (IS)". He added: "Turkey will show the same determination
against Daesh. To beat Daesh, we don't need the PKK or the YPG. We can bring
peace to this region."

The Turkish
military convoy with howitzers, artillery batteries and several units of the
armed forces, was deployed to the border district of Elbeyli in Kilis province,
state news agency Anadolu reported on Monday. Parts of the convoy had entered
Syria, the private IHA news agency reported, which said the reinforcements
would take place "gradually". The deployment began over the weekend
with around 100 vehicles, the Hurriyet daily said, and crossed into the Al-Bab
region, headed towards Jarabulus and YPG-held Manbij.

Jarabulus and
Al-Bab were areas captured from IS during Ankara's first military operation in
August 2016 which lasted until March 2017. Military reinforcements had also
been sent to the Akcakale border town and Ceylanpinar district, both in the
southeastern Sanliurfa province. Turkey conducted a second offensive with
Syrian rebels against the YPG in its northwestern enclave of Afrin in January
this year. Turkish officials have previously said Ankara has no territorial
ambitions in Syria.

Trump's move has
sparked dismay among many allies and turmoil within his administration. First
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis resigned, then Brett McGurk, the special envoy to
the anti-IS coalition, stepped down. American support for the YPG, under the
banner of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) alliance, has long been a source
of tension between NATO allies the US and Turkey.

But relations between
the Turkish and American leaders appear to have improved substantially since a
crisis in the summer over the detention of a US pastor, since released. Last
week, the US approved the sale of $3.5 billion in missiles to Turkey, after
American outrage over Ankara's major arms purchase from Russia. But there are
still strains over the US refusal to extradite Fethullah Gulen, the
Pennsylvania-based Muslim preacher who Turkey says ordered the 2016 failed
coup. - AFP