Further U.S. support to Syrian Kurds will cause problems, Turkish PM says

Turkey’s Prime Minister Binali Yildirim. Photo: Reuters

ANKARA,— Any additional support given by the United States to Kurdish YPG fighters in Syrian Kurdistan will cause problems for Turkey, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim was quoted as saying on Friday.

Speaking to reporters on his return flight from Vietnam, Yildirim also said Turkey was working in cooperation with Russia and Iran in Syria, and there should be no reason for the United States and Turkey to be on opposite sides.

“We are talking about two NATO nations, there should be no reason for there to be (problems). Of course, if they show a stance other than what they have told us on the YPG issue, it would be a problem,” Yildirim was quoted as saying by broadcaster NTV.

Relations between Ankara and Washington have been tested by differences over Syria, where the United States is arming Kurdish YPG forces against Islamic State. Turkey sees the YPG as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has waged a three-decade insurgency against Turkey.

But the United States regards the Kurdish Democratic Union Party PYD and its powerful military wing YPG as key ally against Islamic State and the most effective fighting force against IS in Syria and has provided them with arms, air support as well as the military advisers.

The U.S.-backed operation to dislodge Islamic State from their stronghold of Raqqa in Syria has also raised security concerns for Turkey. Ankara fears the YPG will change the demographics of Raqqa, and has repeatedly warned it would retaliate if faced with any cross-border threat.

Yildirim also said Turkey did not plan any further operations into Syria’s Afrin and Idlib provinces.

Earlier in August, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu had said Russia understands Ankara’s stance on the YPG better than the United States, signalling an increasing drift between the NATO allies.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday told visiting Pentagon chief Jim Mattis of Turkey’s uneasiness over Washington arming a Kurdish militia of Syrian Kurdistan viewed as a terror group by Ankara, a policy which has strained ties between the NATO allies.

The Syrian Democratic Forces SDF, dominated by the Kurdish YPG militia, began an offensive to capture Raqqa on June 6, under the cover of airstrikes by the U.S-led coalition and have since captured dozens of neighborhoods.

On July 27, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that the SDF has captured half of Raqqa.

So far the YPG, which has 60,000 fighters and has seized swathes of Syria from IS.