Turkey’s Erdogan Denounces US Support For Syrian Kurdish Group

The US has been supporting Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) and its People’s Protection Units (YPG) militia in their fight against Islamists in Syria, but Turkey considers them to be terror groups allied to Kurdish rebels on its soil. “We recognize that the Turks do”. “Even the best of friends aren’t going to agree on everything”.

The EU signed a deal with Turkey to stem the flow of refugees after helping Erdogan secure an election victory.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has issued an ultimatum to the United States to choose between Turkey and Syrian Kurds.

Mr. Erdogan told reporters on his presidential plane in remarks published last week that the dispute undermined Turkish confidence in the U.S. “How can we trust [you]?” he said. Washington supports the PYD Syrian Kurds in the battle against Islamic State in Syria.

“Do you accept the PKK as a terrorist organisation?”

“And of course the visit that you are referring took place into the town of Kobani, which of course was largely freed from ISIL control because of the effective fighting of those Syrian Kurdish groups”.

Kurds in northern Syria have established a degree of autonomy since the start of the war in some areas bordering Turkey, which is struggling to end a three-decade insurgency on its own territory by Kurdish militants who want more self-rule. “Then why don’t you list the PYD and the YPG as a terrorist organisations, too?” “Is it me that is your partner, or is it the terrorists in Kobani?”

More than 260,000 people have been killed and half the population displaced in Syria’s complex, multi-front war over the past five years.

A SARQ official said on Wednesday that the convoy, which included vehicles from the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, was evacuating sick people from Madaya when it came under fire by unknown gunmen. “We have provided a measure of support mostly through the air and that support will continue” he added. The report didn’t say whether authorities believe the group may be linked to Islamic State extremists.

While Turkish press celebrated the operation to “neutralize” the “terrorists”, Kurdish press kept reporting on the death toll and conditions of the other wounded.

It has been conducting a violent crackdown on the PKK in the southeast, with hundred of militants, security force members and civilians killed.

The Turkish head of state added the United Nations should not be calling on Turkey to take in more refugees from Syria, but should be urging other states to receive refugees from Turkey.

The conflict has left tens of thousands dead.

At a news conference Wednesday with his Dutch counterpart in The Hague, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu called the U.N. Security Council and the global community “two-faced” for demanding that Turkey open its borders while not moving “a finger to solve the Syrian crisis” or to stop the Russian bombings.