Brett McGurk, the Lawrence of Kurdistan?

Brett McGurk, the Special Envoy of the U.S. President for the Global Coalition to Counter the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), arrived in Ankara on June 30 after carrying out inspections in the north of Syria on June 28-29. 

His arrival in Ankara to talk to Turkish foreign and defense ministry officials coincided with a telephone call by U.S. President Donald Trump to Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan on matters related to Syria, the fight against ISIL, and other Middle East and Gulf affairs including the ongoing Qatar crisis. It also coincided with Qatari Defense Minister Halid Bin Muhammad al-Atiyye's visit to Ankara.

McGurk is not exactly among the most popular U.S. diplomats in Ankara, because of his role in the partnership between the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) and the People's Protection Units (YPG), the main part of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) waging the ground campaign against ISIL. Highlighting that the YPG is the Syrian extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has for decades been in a fight with the U.S.'s NATO ally Turkey, Erdoğan has warned Trump against siding with one terrorist organization in order to defeat another. In vain, he stated that Turkey was ready to fight alongside the U.S. in order to take Raqqa from ISIL.

After McGurk's inspections in northern Syria - with photos of him shaking hands with YPG members particularly driving Ankara crazy - he reportedly said that "all members of our coalition" are "welcomed to Washington for meetings at the political directors level in July, in order to organize and coordinate the next phases of our global campaign," according to a State Department readout on June 29. In Ankara's eyes, this means PYD/PKK members will be in Washington in...