Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar said on Saturday that Turkey is nervous about U.S. plans to set up “observation posts” in Syria along parts of its border with Turkey.
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said on Wednesday the United States was setting up the posts to help keep the focus on clearing the final Islamic State militant strongholds in Syria.
The United States has long complained that tension between Turkey and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) – which includes the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia – has at times slowed progress on the fight against Islamic State.
Turkey is angry at U.S. support for the YPG, which it views as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) waging a decades-long insurgency on Turkish soil.
Islamic State is still present in eastern Syria in a pocket east of the Euphrates River near the border with Iraq.