...

Turkey, US mull situation in region

Türkiye Materials 29 June 2017 10:19 (UTC +04:00)
Turkey’s Defense Minister Fikri Isik and United States Secretary of Defense James Mattis discussed the situation in the region as part of a meeting of NATO member states’ defense ministers.
Turkey, US mull situation in region

Baku, Azerbaijan, June 29

By Rufiz Hafizoglu – Trend:

Turkey’s Defense Minister Fikri Isik and United States Secretary of Defense James Mattis discussed the situation in the region as part of a meeting of NATO member states’ defense ministers, the Turkish Defense Ministry said in a message June 29.

Meanwhile, the two sides also discussed the Qatar crisis and settlement of the military conflict in Syria and Iraq.

According to the message, one of the issues discussed between the parties were written guarantees of the US that detachments of the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) and Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) won’t use US armament against Turkey.

The Turkish authorities have repeatedly stated that YPG and PYD, which are the Syrian wings of the Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK), pose a threat to the country. Turkey also opposes the US arming of PYD and YPG. According to Ankara, arming one terrorist group to fight against another doesn’t mean fighting terrorism.

Ankara also says that YPG and PYD will give US weapons to PKK militants, and eventually, these weapons will be used against Turkey’s Armed Forces and Air Force.

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu

Tags:
Latest

Latest