So, Obama is still poisoning Turkey-US ties?

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was in Ankara on March 30 in a first ministerial visit to Turkey since the Donald Trump administration entered office in January. 

Tillerson, the former CEO of ExxonMobil who has little diplomatic experience outside the energy area, held talks with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım, as well as his counterpart Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, on a number of highly sensitive issues. He tried to avoid to giving fixed answers to some very important questions.   

Apart from his introductory remarks at the outset of the press conference, highlighting the importance and value of the U.S.'s relationship with Turkey, Tillerson gave evasive answers to questions on the role of the Syrian Democratic Union Party (PYD) in future phases of the anti-jihadist fight in Syria, and on Turkey's demand for the extradition of Pennsylvania-based Islamic preacher Fethullah Gülen, said to be the mastermind behind the July 2016 military coup attempt. 

But at the same time, Tillerson stressed that Turkey will remain a key U.S. partner in efforts to halt the resurgence of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in the region, reiterating already announced plans to establish stabilization zones in Syria. In a clear disappointment for Turkey, Tillerson hinted that the U.S. will continue to work and support the PYD and its armed wing, the People's Protection Units (YPG), as its partner during the upcoming Raqqa operation. 

As for Turkey and Turkish officials, Tillerson's visit provided an important opportunity to - once again - reiterate its expectations from the Trump administration. Foreign Minister Çavuşoğlu was as blunt as possible, but at the same was careful, in making these points public at the...