His comments followed vociferous complaints from Turkey warning that the apparent demonstration of US support for a group Turkey regards as a terrorist organization would jeopardize ties between Washington and Ankara.
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“If they (U.S. officials) say ‘We don’t see the YPG and these terrorist groups as the same, ‘ my answer is, that is a double standard and two-faced”, Cavusoglu said at a United Nations summit in Turkey.
Last month, President Obama announced a ramp-up of USA special forces operators in Syria, even while insisting the troops were only there in an advise-and-assist capacity.
“In that case, we would recommend they use the patches of Daesh, al-Nusra and al-Qaeda when they go to other parts of Syria and of Boko Haram when they go to Africa”, Cavusoglu said. “But it’s also important to understand the larger strategic context, which I think that the inappropriateness of it, that they didn’t understand that or appreciate it as they should have”.
In Washington, Pentagon spokesman Capt. Jeff Davis said Defense Department officials are weighing Ankara’s offer as US commanders on the ground continue advise SDF commanders on battle plans for the final assault on Raqqa.
Toner’s comments come one day after images surfaced of USA troops wearing YPG patches during an operation in Raqqa, the self-proclaimed capital of Daesh in northern Syria.
“I believe that politics should be exercised with honesty”, he said.
SDF statements posted on the group’s official Twitter account said the operation was focused on liberating northern Raqqa, to protect the largely-Kurdish areas to the north from ISIS attack. Army Colonel Steve Warren stressed, however, that the USA would continue to support the group in the ongoing fight against the self-styled “Islamic State” (IS).
Turkey views the YPG as a branch of the Turkey-based PKK guerrilla movement, which it has fought for decades.
He said, “The ones who say: “We will continue to support the YPG, it is not the PKK”,. you are on the wrong side”.
The YPG is the most powerful element of the US -backed Syrian militia alliance involved in an offensive near the Islamic State’s de facto Syrian capital of Raqqa.
However, the USA has ordered the special forces to stop the use of YPG patches.
The U.S. did not immediately comment on the issue.
Cavusoglu said Syrian Arab opposition forces opposing President Bashar al-Assad could be backed up with special forces from Turkey, the United States as well as from France, Britain and Germany. “They do not act according to our values”, he said, promising to “see through to the end” the fight against PKK.
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Turkey is part of the USA -led coalition against IS and a Turkish air base is being used to launch bombing runs against IS.
