Turkey fears that advances by the YPG in northern Syria will inflame the three-decade insurgency, waged by the PKK, at home. Some 40,000 people, most of them Kurds, have died since the PKK first took up arms against the state in 1984
Turkey fears that advances by the YPG in northern Syria will inflame the three-decade insurgency, waged by the PKK, at home. Some 40,000 people, most of them Kurds, have died since the PKK first took up arms against the state in 1984Ankara views the Kurdish YPG militia, fighting within a larger US-backed coalition, as the Syrian extension of the Kurdish PKK militant group, which has fought an insurgency in southeastern Turkey since 1984.
The Pentagon immediately sought to stress that it saw arming the Kurdish forces “as necessary to ensure a clear victory” in Raqqa, IS’s de facto capital in Syria and a hub for planning the group’s attacks against the West.
“We are keenly aware of the security concerns of our coalition partner Turkey,” Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White said in a statement as she travelled in Lithuania with defence secretary Jim Mattis.
“We want to reassure the people and government of Turkey that the US is committed to preventing additional security risks and protecting our Nato ally,” White said.
The US has long directly supplied arms to the Arab components of the so-called Syrian Democratic Forces, which include YPG fighters. White said Washington would still prioritise supplying those Arab fighters within the SDF.
One US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the equipment for the Kurdish fighters could include small arms, ammunition, machine guns, armoured vehicles and engineering equipment.
Equipment provided to the SDF would be limited, specific to a mission and provided “incrementally as objectives are reached” White said.
Threat to Turkey
Every weapon obtained by the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia constitutes a threat to Turkey, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Wednesday, emphasising Ankara’s opposition to the US deal to arm the fighters against IS.
Cavusoglu, who was speaking to reporters while on a visit to Montenegro, said the US should distinguish between the YPG and their Arab allies in the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) alliance, and that the Arabs should be the ones to enter Raqqa.
