Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 29
By Rufiz Hafizoglu – Trend:
In order for Turkey and the US to remain allies, it is necessary to solve three main problems, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said, the country’s media reported Nov. 29.
The first problem in the relations between Turkey and the US is related to the fact that the US arms the YPG (People’s Protection Units) and PYD (Democratic Union Party), which are the Syrian wing of the PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party) terrorist group, the prime minister said.
The second problem in relations between the two countries is related to the fact that the US doesn’t extradite the leader of the Hizmet movement Fethullah Gulen, who is involved in the military coup attempt in Turkey in July 2016, Yildirim added.
“The third problem in the relations between Washington and Ankara is that negative attitude towards the US has already formed in Turkey, and the US authorities don’t make any attempts to change this attitude,” Yildirim said.
He noted that Turkey’s discontent regarding the US is mainly due to suspension of visa issuance to Turkish citizens.
On Oct. 8, 2017, the US suspended issuance of visas to Turkish citizens due to the arrest of an employee of the US Consulate General in Istanbul. Turkey also suspended the issuance of visas to US citizens.
Turkish authorities, commenting on the arrest of the Consulate General’s employee, noted that he had links with the movement of Fethullah Gulen.
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