US alliance with terror group in Syria 'grave mistake' - Cavusoglu

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu says the United States, as a country fighting terrorism, is contradicting itself by cooperating with terrorists.

A US general with YPG militants at the site of Turkish air strikes near the northeastern Syrian town of Derik on April 25, 2017.
Reuters

A US general with YPG militants at the site of Turkish air strikes near the northeastern Syrian town of Derik on April 25, 2017.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said early Thursday it was" a grave mistake" that the United States preferred to work with a terrorist organisation in Syria.

Speaking at a pre-dawn suhoor meal in southern Antalya province, Cavusoglu said Turkey had been working for a while to remove the PKK-affiliated YPG terror group from its borders.

"In fact, we are not the reason for this problem. But the US, which is our ally, they have supported a terrorist organisation. They have preferred to work with that terrorist organisation in Syria. It was a grave mistake," he said.

Stating that Turkey now was trying to make Washington correct its mistake, Cavusoglu said: "Because it is a self-contradiction for a country which says it is fighting against terrorism but makes an alliance with such a terror group."

The PYD and its military wing the YPG are Syrian branches of the PKK terrorist network, which has waged war against Turkey for more than 30 years.

Since the PKK launched its terror campaign in Turkey in 1984, tens of thousands of people have been killed.

The US and the coalition have largely ignored the links of the PYD/YPG group with the PKK, which the US and the EU also list as a terrorist group.

Turkey has repeatedly objected to US support for the terrorist PKK/YPG as a “reliable ally” in Syria, which has included supplying arms and equipment.

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