U.S. decision to arm Syrian Kurdish YPG militia threatens Turkey: Cavusoglu

(Times of Oman) –  Turkey urged the United States on Wednesday to reverse a decision to arm Kurdish forces fighting ISIS in Syria, saying every weapon supplied to the YPG militia constituted “a threat to Turkey”.

The angry reply came a week before President Tayyip Erdogan is due in Washington for his first meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump, who approved the arms supply to support a campaign to retake the Syrian city of Raqqa from IS.

Turkey views the YPG as the Syrian extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has fought an insurgency in southeast Turkey since 1984 and is considered a terrorist group by the United States, Turkey and Europe.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, speaking while on a visit to Montenegro, said weapons supplied to the YPG had in the past fallen into PKK hands.

“Both the PKK and YPG are terrorist organisations and they are no different apart from their names,” he told a televised news conference.

“Every weapon seized by them is a threat to Turkey.”

The United States sees the YPG as a valuable partner in the fight against IS militants in northern Syria, and says that arming the Kurdish forces is necessary to retaking the city of Raqqa, IS’ de facto capital in Syria and a hub for planning attacks against the West.

The YPG said Washington’s decision would bring swift results and help the militia “play a stronger, more influential and more decisive role in combating terrorism”.