Turkey warned the United States that its decision to arm Kurdish forces fighting the Islamic State in Syria could end up hurting Washington, and accused its NATO ally of siding with militias that Ankara perceives as terrorists.
“The fight against the terrorist organization Daesh (Islamic State) should not be carried out with another terrorist organization. This kind of step would endanger the future of Syria and the region. It’s obvious where the wrong steps are taken in the past brought Syria.” / “We want to believe that our allies will prefer to side with us, not with a terrorist organization. I will convey our stance on this matter and our concerns regarding this decision to (U.S.) President (Donald) Trump on May 16 in detail,” said Erdogan.
The rebuke by Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan came a week before he is due in Washington for his first meeting with US President Donald Trump, who approved the arms supply to support a campaign to retake the Syrian city of Raqqa, the de-facto capital of the Islamic State in the war-torn country. During a press conference in Ankara, President Erdogan said he would convey Turkey’s stance to his American counterpart during their meets in Washington next week and also at a NATO summit later this month, and that he hoped to persuade Turkey’s most powerful ally to revoke their ‘harmful decision’.
“I hope that the realities that have been expressed so far will be revoked by the time I go to the United States. We are the ones who go through these incidents (referring to the conflict in Syria and its repercussions in the region). Those who make these statements have nothing to do with these incidents,” added Erdogan.
The United States, however, does not seem to agree with Turkey on the matter of arming the Kurdish militias in Syria that combat the Islamic State. US Defense Secretary James Mattis, during a tour of a military training zone in Lithuania, stressed he was confident that Washington would be able to resolve the tension with Turkey over the decision.
“We will work very closely with Turkey in support of their security on their southern border. It’s Europe’s southern border, and we’ll stay closely connected. We are very open to discussions about options and we will work together, we will work out any of the concerns. I am not concerned at all about the NATO alliance and the relations between our nations. It’s not always tidy, Lolita (referring to reporter), but we work out the issues,” said Mattis.
Turkey views the Kurdish YPG militia as the Syrian extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party, PKK, which has fought an insurgency in southeast Turkey since 1984 and is considered a terrorist group by the United States, Turkey and Europe.Washington, however, views the YPG as a valuable partner in the fight against the Islamic State in northern Syria, and says that arming the Kurdish forces is a necessary step in eradicating the extreme Muslim group in the war-torn country.