“If we are strategic partners, then you [US] will respect us ... You have tried to deceive us,” said Erdogan, speaking during a parliamentary meeting of his ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party on Tuesday, according to the Anadolu Agency.
“We wanted weapons from you in return for money. You did not give us, but you gave these weapons and ammunition to terror organizations for free.
“What kind of partnership is this?” he asked.
Erdogan taunted his NATO partner, saying many of the US weapons supplied to the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) for the fight against ISIS are now falling into Turkish hands.
“We are now demolishing all of these [tunnels and weapons and ammunition depots]. All that ammunition is being seized by us gradually,” he said.
Turkish troops and their Syrian proxies, including the Free Syrian Army (FSA), seized Afrin city center on Sunday morning – two months after Operation Olive Branch began.
Ankara claims it launched the operation with the aim of creating a buffer zone along Turkey’s southern border, pushing back the People’s Protection Units (YPG), which Turkey says are affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a named terrorist organization. The groups deny the link.
The Kurdish-led YPG forms the backbone of the SDF. Many of its fighters suspended anti-ISIS operations in Deir ez-Zor to join the defense of Afrin – taking their US-supplied weapons with them.
The YPG claimed on Sunday evening that Afrin city has not fallen to Olive Branch forces, insisting its fighters are still resisted advances in districts of the town. They have pledged to launch a guerrilla campaign to push back the “invasion” and halt what they called the “ethnic cleansing” of Afrin.
While US special forces continue to support the SDF east of the Euphrates in the fight against ISIS, they have not backed their Kurdish allies in Afrin.
The conflict has embarrassed Washington, which wants to simultaneously maintain ties with Turkey and with the SDF.
On Monday, the US said it is “deeply concerned” after the Turkish-led assault on Afrin triggered an exodus of Kurdish civilians.
“It appears the majority of the population of the city, which is predominantly Kurdish, evacuated under threat of attack from Turkish military forces and Turkish-backed opposition forces,” State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said.
“We are also concerned over reports of looting inside the city of Afrin. We have repeatedly expressed our serious concern to Turkish officials regarding the situation in Afrin,” she said.
