Turkey, US agree on plan to avert crisis in Syria's Manbij

Turkey and the United States on Monday endorsed a roadmap for the northern Syrian city of Manbij following a meeting of their foreign ministers in Washington, according to a joint statement.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said the plan will see the removal of US-backed Kurdish forces from the Syrian city.

The move, long sought by Ankara, comes at a time of strain in bilateral ties over wider Syria policy and Washington's decision in December to move its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.

Turkey has been infuriated by US support for the Kurdish YPG militia in Syria, which it views as a terrorist organisation, and has threatened to push its offensive in the Afrin region of northern Syria further east to Manbij, risking confrontation with US troops stationed there.

Turkey sees the YPG as an offshoot of the PKK, a Kurdish militant group in Turkey designated as a terrorist organisation by the US. Washington views the YPG as a key ally in the fight against the Islamic State (IS) group.

"The aim of this roadmap is the clearing of Manbij of all terror organisations and the permanent instatement of safety and stability," Cavusoglu told a news conference in Washington after a meeting with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

"In the first step, the determination of parameters for common plans for the removal of YPG-PYD from Manbij - you can also call it PKK - will be determined."

At their talks in Washington, Cavusoglu and Pompeo discussed cooperation in Syria, along with potential steps to improve security in Manbij, they said in a joint statement.

The Pentagon has long feared that Manbij could become a flashpoint in Syria, with US-backed forces who cleared the city of IS militants clashing with Turkish forces. That would put Washington in the position of either fighting a NATO ally or abandoning its proxy forces in Syria.

The statement did not explicitly spell out how Turkey and the United States would resolve the Manbij issue or detail next steps in the so-called roadmap.

Cavusoglu said Turkish and US units would work together to implement security and stability in Manbij, and the removal of all YPG organisations from Manbij would be completed.

"In the long term, this road map that will (be) implemented in Manbij will be carried to other regions to implement security and stability," he added.

Relations between Ankara and Washington have deteriorated due to a range of factors, including the recent sentencing of a former Turkish state bank executive to 32 months in prison in New York for allegedly taking part in an Iran sanctions-busting scheme, a case Turkey has called a political attack.

Turkey has also caused unease in Washington with its decision to buy S-400 surface-to-air missiles from Russia and drew criticism over its detention of a US Christian pastor, Andrew Brunson, on terrorism charges that he denies.