The charge about the USA supplying Javelins to the Kurds stemmed from a video posted on social media showing a suspected ISIS vehicle being destroyed by a missile near Shaddadi, the northeastern Syrian town that was taken back from ISIS last week by fighters of the US backed Syrian Kurdish Popular Protection Units.
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He reiterated President Vladimir Putin’s announcement that Russian Federation will continue striking “terrorist organizations” identified by the Security Council, like the Islamic State extremist group and the Nusra Front. Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus has said Turkey would continue to respond to cross-border threats but would not initiate any military action.
Separately, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said the YPG, like Daesh, sought to divide Syria.
Turkey’s president says his country supports the cease-fire agreement for Syria “in principle” but has serious concerns that the proposed truce will strengthen Syrian President Bashar Assad and lead to “new tragedies”.
He told RT this meant Washington will not support “Ankara’s efforts to send troops into Syria and North Atlantic Treaty Organisation won’t come to rescue them later”, and that he did not think the ceasefire would last. IS seized Khanaser and surrounding hills on Tuesday, cutting the government’s main land route to the city. While Turkey consider them as terrorist organizations the USA sees them an important partner in the fight against ISIL. The cease-fire will not cover the Islamic State group, al-Qaida’s Syria branch known as the Nusra Front and other militant groups.
The Syrian Arab Army and its Kurdish allies made rapid advances toward the key Syrian border town of Azaz, whipped Ahmet Davutoğlu who was in a state visit to Ukraine, into an unprecedented frenzy by calling the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) as Russian mercenaries.
The decision to end the peace process with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in June of a year ago and the inability to read the mood in Washington vis-à-vis the YPG will prove costly for Turkey.
The statements come a day after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged the exclusion of the Syrian Kurdish YPG group from the ceasefire agreement, claiming they are a terrorist group. But then the anti-terror operation of the Russian and Syrian Aerospace Forces began.
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Syria’s opposition has indicated it is ready for a two-week truce, saying it is a chance to test the seriousness of the Syrian government’s commitment to a cessation of hostilities.
