Erdogan: US should choose between Turkey, Kurdish forces

On Wednesday, Recep Tayyip Erdogan reiterated his position that the PYD was no different to Turkey’s Kurdish rebels, which the US does consider to be a terror organization, or to IS.

The PKK, which says it is fighting for autonomy for Turkey’s large ethnic Kurdish minority, is considered a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States and the European Union.

“On the Syrian problem, which has become a part of our own domestic security, the time has come to implement our proposals for a solution, which everyone finds to be rational and right”, Erdogan said.

While Turkey sees the PYD and YPG as offshoots of the banned PKK, the United States does not and believes they are the only effective force against IS on the ground in Syria, reports the BBC’s Mark Lowen in Istanbul.

Since then more than 250members of the security forces have been martyred and thousands of PKK terrorists killed in operations across Turkey and northern Iraq.

Earlier Tuesday, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said allied and friendly nations should distinguish terrorist organizations from states in their fight against Daesh in Syria. “Am I your partner or terrorists in Kobane?”, attacked Erdogan, stressing that it considers PYD a terrorist franchise linked to the terrorist group PKK which is active on its soil.

Since the Syrian Civil War broke out, the Turkmen population of Syria has been suppressed by military actions of Syrian government forces and has looked to Turkey for support and protection.

Kirby had on Monday defended U.S. support for Kurdish fighters in Syria, saying they had been “some of the most successful in going after Daesh”, using another name for the Islamic State group.

With Turkish political leaders designating the PYD and PKK as greater threats than Islamic State, analysts says relations between Ankara and Washington, are becoming increasingly strained. He also said Turkey will not permit a semi-autonomous Kurdish group to gain control of Syria.

“Another former IS member also highlighted how foreign jihadists could travel openly through Turkey on the way to the Syrian border”.

The Hurriyet newspaper reported that the Turkish government, which views the Democratic Union Party (PYD) as a terrorist group, expressed its “unease” to USA ambassador John Bass over the remarks by State Department spokesman John Kirby.

A women and her children stand in the ruins of battle-damaged house in the Kurdish town of Silopi, in southeastern Turkey, near the border with Iraq on January 19, 2016.

Ankara had threatened to boycott the talks if PYD was invited.