Ankara summons US charge d’affaires over support for YPG

Turkish Foreign Ministry on Wednesday summoned the US Embassy Charge d’Affaires Philip Kosnett in capital Ankara to express its “discomfort” over the US support for the YPG, according to a diplomatic source.

The US weapons training of YPG militants was discussed when Kosnett was summoned to the ministry, the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on talking to the media.

The US and the coalition have largely ignored YPG links to the PKK, which the US, EU, and Turkey lists as a terrorist group.

It was previously reported that the YPG, which has seized a quarter of Syrian territory, was forming a so-called army with the support US.

Also previously, the US said they would continue to support the YPG in Syria's eastern Raqqa and Deir Ezzor province, home to some of the country's most productive oilfields.

A group of around 400 militants were reportedly trained by the US through the Pentagon and the CIA near eastern Aleppo's Tishrin Dam on the Euphrates River and in southern Hasakah province.

The PKK has been waging its armed campaign against Turkey since 1984.

Some 40,000 people have been killed in the clashes mainly concentrated in Turkey's southeast, as well as various attacks elsewhere in the country.

Despite Turkey’s objections, the US has continuously provided YPG and its affiliated groups with arms, calling it an ally in the fight against Daesh, but ignoring its internationally recognised status as a terrorist group.

US Defense Chief Ash Carter had admitted in April 2016 that the PYD and YPG are linked to the PKK.

The head of the US special forces in 2015 had also urged the YPG to "rebrand" itself to avoid Turkish criticism and give the group a role in Syria's future. The PKK-linked group was then renamed the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), General Raymond Thomas said in July 2017.

A former spokesperson for the YPG, Talal Silo, who defected from the SDF and is now in Turkey had said the group was "just a name" that provided cover for the US to support the YPG.

Silo had also explained how the YPG-controlled SDF was formed and how the US was aware of a controversial deal to allow Daesh militants to leave the city of Raqqa before it taken over by the US-backed forces.

The YPG is currently occupying more than a fourth of Syrian territory. Their strategy for expansion has grown as it has expanded the area under its control, starting from the Iraqi border in eastern Syria, then west through the Turkish borderline.

Turkey has warned the US about the goals of the organisation. However, the US government says the developments are only linked to the fight against Daesh.