US 'understands' Turkish security concerns, but won't cease PKK support

The United States has reiterated that it understands Türkiye's legitimate security concerns along its border with Syria regarding threats from the PKK/YPG terrorist organisation, yet showed no willingness to address said concerns.

"We understand that Türkiye has legitimate security concerns along that border. Turkish citizens, Turkish towns, Turkish cities have come under attack by terrorists from across that border," White House National Security Council Spokesperson John Kirby told reporters on Tuesday.

"They absolutely have a legitimate right to be able to defend themselves against terrorist attacks. We understand that, and we are in active conversations with the Turks about how we do that, how they do that," Kirby added.

However, he then stressed that the US presence in Syria aims to prevent Daesh (ISIS) from regrouping in the wake of regime leader Bashar al Assad's exit in December and that US partnership with the PKK/YPG-led SDF forces will continue to that end.

The US does not want to "see our operations of a nature that compel our SDF partners to focus on other things than the counter ISIS mission," he added.

NATO ally vs terrorists

Despite recognising the PKK as a terrorist group, responsible for the deaths of 40,000 people, the US has long legitimised its presence along Türkiye’s borders under the guise of combating Daesh.

The separatist PKK/YPG group has sought to exploit Syria's power vacuum since the Assad regime’s fall to step up efforts to establish a “terrorist corridor” along the border with Türkiye.

Ankara maintains that using one terrorist group to fight another is counterproductive and has offered that the US should partner with its NATO ally, Türkiye, instead of terrorists, against Daesh.