美國敦促土耳其封鎖土敘邊境 US urges Turkey to seal border with Syria

The US publicly called on Turkey to do more to close its border with Syria, which has been a major conduit for the Isis to bring fighters and arms into the country.

美國公開呼籲土耳其採取更多措施關閉與敘利亞的邊境。目前，這段邊境已成爲“伊拉克和黎凡特伊斯蘭國”(ISIS)將武裝人員和軍火輸送入敘利亞的主要渠道。

As the US announced it would send more special operations forces into Iraq and Syria to take on Isis, President Barack Obama said on Tuesday he had had “repeated conversations” with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, urging him block off the border to Isis.

就在美國宣佈將向伊拉克和敘利亞派遣更多特種部隊打擊ISIS之際，美國總統巴拉克攠巴馬(Barack Obama)週二表示，他已和土耳其總統雷傑普吠伊普埃爾多安(Recep Tayyip Erdogan)“反覆多次對話”，敦促後者關閉通向ISIS的邊境。

The signs of friction between the US and Turkey come as the US-led coalition is trying to launch a military operation to expel Isis from the last 98km strip of the Syria-Turkish border that it still controls.

美國和土耳其之間出現衝突跡象之際，以美國爲首的聯盟正試圖發動一次軍事行動，將ISIS從它仍舊控制的敘土邊境最後98公里地帶中趕走。

The US and Turkey have been discussing the operation for months and US-trained forces have begun fighting Isis in part of the area, however the military plans have been partly hampered by continued disagreements between Washington and Ankara.

幾個月來，美國和土耳其一直在討論這一行動，經美國訓練的部隊已開始在部分地區與ISIS作戰。然而，這些軍事計劃在一定程度上遭遇了障礙，原因是美國政府和土耳其政府之間存在持續性的分歧。

Speaking at a press conference in Paris on Tuesday, Mr Obama said of the plan to retake the border strip still controlled by Isis: “We have been having our militaries’ work together to determine how a combination of air and Turkish ground forces on the Turkish side of the border can do a much better job of sealing the border than currently is.” He added: “I think President Erdogan recognises that.”

週二在巴黎一個新聞發佈會上，奧巴馬提到了重新奪回仍由ISIS控制的邊境地帶的計劃：“我們一直在讓雙方的部隊密切合作，以確認：把空軍和邊境上土耳其一側的土耳其地面部隊相結合，將如何在封鎖邊境方面發揮更大的作用。”他補充說：“我認爲埃爾多安總統認識到了這一點。”

Ashton Carter, US defence secretary, said on Tuesday that “Turkey must do more to control its often porous border”. The US would like Turkey to deploy more troops to its side of the border with Syria. A senior US official said that the discussions with Turkey about the border zone had been a “hard slog”.

週二，美國國防部長阿什頓慍祓(Ashton Carter)表示：“土耳其必須採取更多措施，控制其總是千瘡百孔的邊境。”美國希望土耳其向土敘邊境土耳其一側部署更多部隊。一名美國高官表示，與土耳其就邊境地帶開展磋商是一項“艱苦的工作”。

The Turks have been pushing for a broader plan that would turn the area into a safe zone for refugees and rebel soldiers once Isis has been expelled. Mr Carter said that the US was against the idea of a safe zone because of the difficulty of retaining control. He added that the Turks “have not offered a force of the size that would do that [secure the zone]”.

土耳其一直在推動一項更大的計劃：一旦ISIS被趕走，就將該地區改爲難民和反對派士兵的安全區。卡特表示，由於重獲對該地區的控制十分困難，美國反對安全區的主意。他補充說，土耳其“並未提供會實現這一點（確保該地區安全）的武裝力量”。