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The Turkish ambassador to the United States and presidential spokesperson were among the officials who responded to U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham’s Twitter post suggesting that President Donald Trump was prepared to keep U.S. troops in Syria to ensure the United States’ “Kurdish allies are protected.”
“When you say “our Kurdish allies” I am confident that you are not referring to YPG/PYD Mr Senator,” Turkey’s ambassador to the United States, Serdar Kılıç, tweeted in response to Graham.
Yet the U.S. senator undoubtedly was referring to the People’s Protection Units (YPG) and its political wing, the Democratic Union Party (PYD), Syrian Kurdish groups which have acted as vital on the ground forces in the international coalition against the Islamic State in Syria.
The U.S. support for the YPG and its affiliates has caused consternation in Ankara, which views the groups as dangerous due to their links to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). The PKK is on the terror list of both the United States and Turkey due to its armed pursuit of Kurdish self-rule.
Graham himself had taken the previous U.S. administration to task when he grilled former Defense Secretary Ashton Carter on the YPG’s links to the PKK in April 2016.
“You know better than anyone else in DC and have time and again exposed publicly the irrefutable command and control relationship between YPG/PYD and the PKK,” said Kılıç in his tweet, referring to that occasion.
İbrahim Kalın, the spokesperson for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, expressed similar sentiments in a tweet . “Just as ISIS doesn’t represent Muslims, PKK doesn’t represent Kurds in Syria or elsewhere,” he said.
Trump’s announced his surprise decision to enact a full and rapid withdrawal from Syria via Twitter on December 19, shocking Defense Secretary James Mattis and Brett McGurk, the top U.S. diplomat overseeing the campaign against ISIS. Both tendered their resignations.
Graham was similarly outraged by the announcement of the withdrawal, which Trump reportedly reached during a phone call with Erdoğan on December 14. Erdoğan had been threatening to launch a military operation against the areas of north east Syria where U.S. troops were deployed alongside YPG forces, but the Turkish president was reportedly taken aback by Trump’s swift agreement to withdraw.
After meeting Trump on Sunday, though, the senator appeared convinced that the president had again changed his mind and reconsidered pulling troops out in the near future.
"I think we're in a pause situation where we are re-evaluating what's the best way to achieve the president's objective of having people pay more and do more," Graham said.
Source-Ahval
“When you say “our Kurdish allies” I am confident that you are not referring to YPG/PYD Mr Senator,” Turkey’s ambassador to the United States, Serdar Kılıç, tweeted in response to Graham.
Yet the U.S. senator undoubtedly was referring to the People’s Protection Units (YPG) and its political wing, the Democratic Union Party (PYD), Syrian Kurdish groups which have acted as vital on the ground forces in the international coalition against the Islamic State in Syria.
The U.S. support for the YPG and its affiliates has caused consternation in Ankara, which views the groups as dangerous due to their links to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). The PKK is on the terror list of both the United States and Turkey due to its armed pursuit of Kurdish self-rule.
Graham himself had taken the previous U.S. administration to task when he grilled former Defense Secretary Ashton Carter on the YPG’s links to the PKK in April 2016.
“You know better than anyone else in DC and have time and again exposed publicly the irrefutable command and control relationship between YPG/PYD and the PKK,” said Kılıç in his tweet, referring to that occasion.
İbrahim Kalın, the spokesperson for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, expressed similar sentiments in a tweet . “Just as ISIS doesn’t represent Muslims, PKK doesn’t represent Kurds in Syria or elsewhere,” he said.
Trump’s announced his surprise decision to enact a full and rapid withdrawal from Syria via Twitter on December 19, shocking Defense Secretary James Mattis and Brett McGurk, the top U.S. diplomat overseeing the campaign against ISIS. Both tendered their resignations.
Graham was similarly outraged by the announcement of the withdrawal, which Trump reportedly reached during a phone call with Erdoğan on December 14. Erdoğan had been threatening to launch a military operation against the areas of north east Syria where U.S. troops were deployed alongside YPG forces, but the Turkish president was reportedly taken aback by Trump’s swift agreement to withdraw.
After meeting Trump on Sunday, though, the senator appeared convinced that the president had again changed his mind and reconsidered pulling troops out in the near future.
"I think we're in a pause situation where we are re-evaluating what's the best way to achieve the president's objective of having people pay more and do more," Graham said.
Source-Ahval
