At the same time, US officials continue to call for a “political solution to the Kurdish question” – even though the Turkish public no longer believes these talks, which failed twice in the past and could possibly succeed, while the PKK-YPG has no intention of limiting their expansion to northern Syria.
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But Ankara is wary of the US -allied People’s Protection Units (YPG) and its political arm, the Democratic Union Party (PYD), Syrian Kurdish groups it sees as extensions of Kurdish militants who have waged a three-decade insurgency on its own soil.
In comments that he made in NY on Thursday that were broadcast on Turkish television, Erdogan said “If you think you can finish off Daesh with the YPG and PYD, you cannot, because they are terrorist groups too”. Daesh is an Arabic acronym for Islamic State.
“Turkey wants to join.in a military operation to push IS [an alternative name for Daesh] from its Syrian stronghold of Raqqah, as long as it excludes Kurdish rebel forces”, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was quoted by private broadcaster NTV as saying on Sunday.
Erdogan added that he believes Washington should classify the YPG and the PYD as terrorist groups despite the fact that they are fighting against ISIS.
Erdogan added the United States sent arms to Kurdish militia during the battle for Kobane, a Kurdish-majority town, between IS and the YPG in 2014, saying half of the weapons fell into the hands of IS extremists.
Kobani was besieged by Islamic State for four months in late 2014 and is about 35 km (20 miles) east of the Syrian border town of Jarablus, which Turkey-backed rebels seized a month ago in an operation dubbed “Euphrates Shield”.
Turkey’s position towards the liberation of Raqqa was announced soon after the New York Times (NYT) reported that the Obama administration is considering directly arming the Syrian Kurds combating ISIS, a move that could break down the already strained relationship between the United States and Turkey.
That operation is created to clear ISIL fighters from Turkey’s southern border area but it has also brought Turkish and Syrian rebel forces into conflict with the YPG.
The top U.S. general on Thursday said the military was considering arming the Syrian Kurdish fighters, and acknowledged the difficulty of balancing such a move with the relationship with Ankara.
Turkey has been backing the Free Syrian Army (FSA) against the US -allied Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), an Arab-Kurdish alliance led by the YPG.
For Islamic State, a battle in Dabiq would symbolize that ancient Muslim prophecies could be coming true.
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The Turkish border town of Kilis was struck on Thursday by three rockets, fired from Islamic State-controlled territory in Syria, which wounded eight civilians including six children, the Turkish military said.
