Relations between the United States and Turkey are continuing down a turbulent path. In the most recent incident, on July 18, Turkey’s state news agency, Anadolu, published in both Turkish and English sensitive information about the U.S. military footprint in northern Syria. Anadolu’s report included the troop levels and precise locations of 10 American military bases stretching across the Kurdish-controlled regions of Syria.
Although the news agency claims the information was discovered through regular reporting by its journalists in Syria, Washington clearly believes the Turkish government was behind the leak. “We would be very concerned if officials from a NATO ally would purposefully endanger our forces by releasing sensitive information,” a Pentagon spokesman declared.
Whether the information was leaked or not is beside the point. The real issue is that the bilateral relationship between Washington and Ankara has reached a point of minimal trust.