Alwaght- Turkish relations with the United States are close to breaking over Washington support for Kurdish militia forces in Syria, warned Turkey’s foreign minister on Monday.
“Ties with the US are at very critical point. We will either fix these relations or they will break completely,” Mevlut Cavusoglu told reporters in Istanbul on the sidelines of a Turkish-African meeting in Istanbul.
He added that he would discuss the problems in ties with US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson during his “important” visit to Turkey this week as part of a regional tour.
Turkey’s expectations from US are “loud and clear,” said Cavusoglu.
“We don’t want any more promises, we want concrete steps. In order to discuss certain subjects with the US […] the missing trust needs to be restored,” he said.
“The reason for that missing trust is the US"
Mentioning the YPG/PKK terror group in Syria -- the armed wing of the terrorist PYD/PKK -- and the Fetullah Terrorist Group (FETO), the group behind a defeated 2016 coup in Turkey, he added:
“We’ve seen serious mistakes and wrongs from our ally the US on FETO, the YPG, and other subjects. The US didn’t keep the promises it gave. How trustworthy can a country which fails to keep its promises be?”
Meanwhile, Turkey’s Prime Minister Binali Yildirim on Monday questioned the seriousness of the US in the fight against terrorism and urged it again to drop its support for terror groups.
Speaking at a news conference alongside his Macedonian counterpart Zoran Zaev in capital Ankara, Yildirim said: “The US, which we think as our NATO ally and years-long strategic partner, should pull itself together, and come to a proper decision.
“The US should see that fight against a terror group via another one does not comply with a state’s seriousness. It would be nice if the US could see that, if it doesn’t then we will continue to do what is necessary.”
Turkey has been waging “Operation Olive Branch” against Syria’s Afrin region since January 20 in a bid to eliminate the US-backed YPG, which Ankara views as a terror organization and the Syrian branch of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). The latter has been fighting for an autonomous region inside Turkey since 1984.
The YPG forms the backbone of the so-called Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a US-backed anti-Damascus militant group.
The Syrian government has condemned the “brutal Turkish aggression” against Afrin, rejecting Ankara’s claim about having informed Damascus of the operation. The Syrian government has also slammed the illegal US military presence in the country.
