Erdogan claims US-supplied weapons were used by YPG to kill Turks
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has alleged that weapons supplied to the Syrian Kurdish Peoples Protection Units (YPG) in Syria have been used against Turkish civilians. He added that he would talk to US President Barack Obama about it on Friday.
"I will tell him, 'Look at how and where these weapons you provided were fired'," he told reporters in Istanbul on Friday according to Reuters.
"Month ago in my meeting with him I told him the U.S. was supplying weapons. Three planeloads arrived, half of them ended up in the hands of Daesh [Islamic State], and half of them in the hands of the PYD [Syrian Democratic Union Party]," he went on to allege.
"Against whom were these weapons used?" he asked before answering, "They were used against civilians there and caused there deaths."
The Turkish President also said today that the YPG were behind the recent bombing of Ankara which killed 28 people. Turkey has been firing artillery over the border at the YPG since last week and seeks to halt their advances against Syrian opposition groups in that border region.
Erdogan has long charged that there is effectively no difference between the YPG and the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). The US and the European Union agree with Turkey's view that the PKK is indeed a terror outfit but have made a distinction with the YPG, which have proven to be a valuable ally on the ground in Syria against Islamic State.
"I will tell him, 'Look at how and where these weapons you provided were fired'," he told reporters in Istanbul on Friday according to Reuters.
"Month ago in my meeting with him I told him the U.S. was supplying weapons. Three planeloads arrived, half of them ended up in the hands of Daesh [Islamic State], and half of them in the hands of the PYD [Syrian Democratic Union Party]," he went on to allege.
"Against whom were these weapons used?" he asked before answering, "They were used against civilians there and caused there deaths."
The Turkish President also said today that the YPG were behind the recent bombing of Ankara which killed 28 people. Turkey has been firing artillery over the border at the YPG since last week and seeks to halt their advances against Syrian opposition groups in that border region.
Erdogan has long charged that there is effectively no difference between the YPG and the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). The US and the European Union agree with Turkey's view that the PKK is indeed a terror outfit but have made a distinction with the YPG, which have proven to be a valuable ally on the ground in Syria against Islamic State.