Alwaght- Turkey rebuked on Friday the US "hypocritical" decision to add Ankara to the list of governments implicated with use of child soldiers over the past year.
The United States on Thursday added Turkey to the list, placing a NATO ally for the first time in such a list, in a move that is likely to further complicate the already fraught ties between Ankara and Washington.
"A striking example of hypocrisy and double standards as the US openly aids, provides weapons to (Kurdish militant groups) PKK/YPG that forcibly recruits children," a statement by the foreign ministry said.
The Turkish foreign ministry said it was "grotesque" that the list did not mention Kurdish militant groups, which have been fighting an insurgence against Turkey for over 40 years.
The ministry noted that the US-backed militants use of child soldiers in Syria has been documented in a UN report in May while criticizing the US for completely disregarding the terrorists' crimes. The statement continued by saying that the Kurdish militants, which the US provides training and weapons to in Syria, also abducts children and forcibly arms them in Iraq's Makhmour and Sinjar regions.
