Erdoğan to US: Choose either Turkey or the PYD as your partner

[MikeWB]

In one of his strongest remarks to date, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has lambasted the US after a senior official's visit last week to the northern Syrian town of Kobani, which is under the control of the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), and called on Washington to choose either Turkey or "terrorists in Kobani" as a partner.

Erdoğan directed severe criticism at the visit to the town by Brett McGurk, US President Barack Obama's special envoy for the anti-Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) coalition. The visit came at a time where Geneva peace talks were taking place, and the Turkish president declared that the US should make a choice between the PYD and Turkey.

Erdoğan has called on the US and the European Union to list the major Syrian Kurdish political party and its armed wing as terrorist organizations over their affiliation with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which is fighting against the Turkish state and which is regarded as a terrorist group by Washington and Brussels.

"You accept the PKK as a terrorist organization? Then why don't you list the PYD and [People's Protection Units] YPG as terrorist organizations, too?" Erdoğan asked while speaking to reporters on Friday on board a plane en route to Turkey from a week-long Latin America tour

This is not the first time Erdoğan has made such a call. His and other senior Turkish leaders' calls reflect a split between Ankara and its allies over how to treat the Syrian Kurdish party and its armed faction.

The Kurdish militia the YPG has been a reliable ally in the fight against ISIL on the ground and has benefited from the US arms supply on several occasions.

While the US and EU share Turkey's view toward the PKK and sees it as a terrorist organization, they differ in their views regarding the PYD and YPG.

During his visit, McGurk met with senior PYD and YPG officials and pledged further support for Syrian Kurds. He also visited a cemetery and paid his respects to YPG fighters killed during a months-long battle with ISIL in Kobani.

It was the first time a top US official has visited the YPG-controlled town, reflecting the type of relationship the US and the PYD enjoy. The US airdropped weapons and munitions during the siege of Kobani.

"We discovered advanced Russian, US and European weapons in PKK cells during military operations in southeastern Turkey. Where do these weapons come from?" the Turkish president asked, revealing Turkey's growing anxiety that some of the weapons provided by the US and EU to the YPG end up in PKK hands.

"The PKK is a terrorist organization and the YPG is too. The PYD is what the PKK is. [US Vice President] Joe Biden came with an official. A national security official [Obama's envoy]. He visits Kobani at the time of the Geneva talks and is awarded a plaque by a so-called YPG general. How can we trust [you]?" Erdoğan said, expressing his dismay over McGurk's visit.

McGurk was given a plaque by YPG official Polat Can, a former PKK member. It sparked a harsh reaction from Ankara as Erdoğan called on the US to choose, saying, "Am I your ally or are the 'terrorists' in Kobani?"

Erdoğan also repeated his criticism of Russian air strikes in Syria. The Turkish president said on Friday that Russia must be held accountable for the people it has killed in Syria, arguing that Moscow and Damascus were together responsible for 400,000 deaths there.

While speaking at a joint press conference with his Senegalese counterpart during a brief stopover in the West African country on Friday, Erdoğan also dismissed a Russian statement that Turkey was preparing for an incursion in Syria, saying he is "laughing" at the claim.

Ankara has dismissed this as propaganda intended to conceal Russia's own "crimes."

Erdoğan said Russia was engaged in an invasion of Syria and accused it of trying to set up a "boutique state" for its longtime ally President Bashar al-Assad.

"Russia must be held accountable for the people it has killed within Syria's borders," the Doğan news agency quoted him as saying. "By cooperating with the regime, the number of people they have killed has reached 400,000."

His comments are likely to further anger Moscow. Relations between Turkey, a NATO member, and Russia hit their worst low in recent memory last November after Turkey shot down a Russian warplane Ankara said had violated Turkish airspace from Syria.

http://www.todayszaman.com/diplomacy_erdogan-to-us-choose-either-turkey-or-the-pyd-as-your-partner_411628.html