ANKARA
U.S. Ambassador to Turkey John Bass on Thursday praised Turkey’s "full participation" in anti-Daesh operations as "a really important development".
In an interview aired on news broadcaster CNN Turk, the US envoy said Turkey’s participation gave "an important additional contribution to our effort to degrade overtime and ultimately defeat this terrible terrorist organization".
Turkey begun with its operations against Daesh in Syria last week, while on the other hand, Ankara has opened for the international coalition its Incirlik air base in Adana, southern Turkey, close to the Syrian border. The moves came after Turkey and the U.S. agreed on the details of the fight against Daesh terror organization.
"We are already benefiting not only from Turkey’s active participation, but also from the ability to base U.S. and potentially other coalition aircraft and assets in Turkey which greatly reduces the time for those assets to reach targets in Syria, and therefore increases the capability of the coalition to pursue this military campaign," Bass said.
The ambassador said that the U.S. expects the Assad regime to stay away from "our aircraft lest we have to engage in appropriate measures to protect coalition aircraft, which we absolutely will do if we need to".
He refused to directly speak about Turkey’s call to establish a safe zone along the Turkish-Syrian border.
"What we are doing right now is … to figure out the best way to address a critical security threat to the coalition but also to Turkey. And, that’s Daesh’s control of this border area."
Bass said that they had never said that airstrikes would be sufficient to get rid of Daesh. "But we also believe strongly that it is going to depend on the people and contributions from the government in Iraq and from the elements in Syria that are fighting Daesh to have that effect on the ground."
Asked whether the U.S. has an intention to create an alleged corridor inside Syria that would be controlled by armed Kurdish groups, the ambassador said: "No, we do not. The United States supports the territorial integrity of Syria, just as it supports the territorial integrity of Turkey and Iraq."
Bass said: "The U.S. believes that Assad has no future in Syria, has lost all legitimacy to govern and to remain part of a government in Syria."
The UN estimates that since the Syrian conflict began back in 2011, more than 250,000 people have lost their lives, including at least 10,000 children.
Bass said that Turkey begun its anti-Daesh operations in July, in response to the attack from Daesh on Turkish soldiers along the border in late July, but later give a break due to safety concerns in the Daesh attack and continued with airstrikes just against the PKK.
"The air war against Daesh is complicated, there is a lot of aircraft flying in very small geographic areas and it is really important that all of the members of the coalition can do that safely and, as I said earlier, for maximum effect," he said.
Renewed conflict in Turkey
The ambassador said the U.S. find concerning the renewed conflict inside Turkey between security forces and the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, which is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the European Union.
"It troubles us that we see a resumption of conflict in Turkey that has been prompted by attacks by the PKK inside Turkey. And we continue to strongly support the Turkish government’s right to defend itself and to address terrorism within its borders. That principle and that steadfast support has not changed, will not change, from the United States."
Asked whether the U.S. authorities have been in dialogue with the PKK, as the organization's leaders have claimed, Bass made it clear: "No, the United States government is not in dialogue with the PKK."
"We believe it is really important to see the process resume and obviously the first step in getting to that is a cessation of the current conflict and fighting," he said.
"And that starts with the PKK stopping its attacks."
Since July 7, when a police officer was shot dead in the southeastern city of Siirt, 72 members of the security forces have been martyred in suspected PKK attacks. Turkey has responded with air raids on the PKK targets inside Turkey and in northern Iraq.
U.S. to stay in Incirlik as long as needed
Asked for how long American jets would stay in Turkey, Bass said: "We expect that we will be here as long as it is required to achieve the objective that we share which is to degrade and ultimately defeat Daesh," he said.
"We have already got a substantial presence operating from Incirlik. We anticipate potentially growing that and sustaining it for as long as we need to achieve the objectives that we have agreed are important and that we need to fulfill."
Gulen extradition request
On ties between U.S. President Barack Obama and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Bass said: "The two presidents, like the two governments, have a strong, productive, constructive working relationship."
On the issue of Turkey’s fight against the Turkish government calls "parallel structures" -- a clandestine group led by U.S.-base preacher Fethullah Gulen which allegedly aims at undermining the Turkish government -- and a possible request by Ankara to extradite Gulen, Bass said: "The United States does not comment on actual or hypothetical extradition requests."
"What I can tell you is that any extradition request the United States receives is evaluated very carefully by our Justice Department to evaluate the merits of the request against the charges that are being presented in the evidence, and against U.S. laws governing extradition and comparable crimes."
Concerns about the Gulen movement, which the government accuses of infiltrating state institutions, stem from recordings that surfaced in December 2013 that led to corruption investigations against former senior government figures.
