Turkey on Wednesday asked the United States to revoke its decision to rearm the Kurdish forces fighting the Islamic State group in Syria and warned its Nato ally of consequences. Hinting at severing ties with the US, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim (pictured above) said in Ankara that he could not believe Washington would have to choose between its strategic partnership with Turkey and a militant outfit, Reuters reported.
“The US administration still has chances to consider Turkey’s sensitivities on the PKK [Kurdistan Workers Party]. If there is a decision otherwise, this will surely have consequences and yield a negative result for the US, as well,” Yaldirim said.
On Tuesday, US President Donald Trump had authorised arming the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) to reclaim the Syrian city of Raqqa. An official told CNN that the weapons would include small arms, machine guns, construction equipment and armoured vehicles.
While the US considers the YPG a partner in its fight against the Islamic State group in northern Syria, Turkey deems it the Syrian extension of the banned PKK, which was established in Southeast Turkey in 1984. Both Turkey and the US have the PKK designated as a militant group.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said the weapons supplied by the US to Kurdish forces will eventually fall into the hands of PKK militants. “Both the PKK and YPG are terrorist organisations, and they are no different apart from their names. Every weapon seized by them is a threat to Turkey,” he said.
Deputy Prime Minister Nurettin Canikli echoed Cavusoglu’s opinions. “We hope the US administration will put a stop to this wrong and turn back from it...Such a policy will not be beneficial; you can’t be in the same sack as terrorist organisations,” he told a local news channel.
The warning comes a week before Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is slated to visit Washington and meet Trump. Erdogan has not yet made a statement on Trump’s decision to arm the Kurdish forces.
US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, on the other hand, allayed Turkey’s fears and said the two countries will resolve the matter. “We’ll work out any of the concerns. We will work very closely with Turkey in support of their security on their southern border,” he said.
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