Striking an Impossible Balance in Turkey

ANKARA—Before Jim Mattis, the U.S. defense secretary, set off on a trip to strengthen ties with America’s allies in the Middle East and Europe, the Pentagon released a statement saying he would “look for ways to help Turkey address its legitimate security concerns,” including the fight against the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), an outlawed terrorist organization that Turkish officials view as their number one threat.

In Mattis’s meetings with Turkish government officials in Ankara today, he will have to acknowledge Turkish interests while serving as the de facto face of America’s ongoing support for Kurdish groups in northern Syria in the fight against the Islamic State. Following the battle for , the U.S. military has been leading the operation to retake . It has done this from bases