“We have called upon Turkey to stay focused on the fight against IS and not to engage Syrian Defence Forces (SDF), and we have had a number of contacts over the last several days”, Carter said in a statement.
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Turkish media reported on Monday that Ankara summoned the United States ambassador to protest the criticism, however a spokesman for the Turkish foreign ministry told AFP that there was only a “phone call” to Ambassador John Bass.
Celik’s comments follow heightened tensions between Turkey, the United States and local Kurdish militias in Syria fighting against the Islamic State.
Turkey considers the YPG to be an offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) – a group striving for an independent Kurdish state in Turkey – which Ankara has declared a terrorist organisation.
“We strongly condemn such initiatives that portray this [Operation Euphrates Shield] as an action against the Kurds in Syria [or] as an operation to block Kurds’ achievements”, he said.
The YPG is also a key component of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which groups diverse factions battling the jihadists.
The extremist group has suffered a string of defeats in recent weeks, including in Syria’s northern Aleppo province, where Turkish troops and allied Syrian rebels drove IS out of the border town of Jarablus last week.
The suicide attack is the first by ISIS to target Turkish-backed rebels since they entered Syria last week.
“The Turkish army must quickly stop its military operations”.
The Pentagon has denied reports it was monitoring a cease-fire but said Turkish forces had moved to the west, while Kurdish forces had moved east of the Euphrates River, as per the insistence of Turkish and US authorities. Officials in Turkey’s capital Ankara rejected the claim.
Although they share an enemy in ISIS, Syria’s Kurds and Ankara dislike each other nearly as much.
A U.S. defense official told Agence-France Presse in Washington on Tuesday that the Turkish and Kurdish-led forces had reached a “loose agreement” to stop fighting each other.
The United States “was not involved in these activities, they were not coordinated with USA forces, and we do not support them”, he said.
The Kurdish-backed Jarablus Military Council supported by the SDF confirmed a truce had been reached.
Kurdish-backed militias said they had agreed to the truce.
Turkish operations will continue “until terror organizations such as Daesh [ISIS], the PKK and its Syrian arm, the YPG, cease to be threats for our citizens”, added Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitoring group based in Britain, said at least 40 civilians were killed in Turkish shelling and airstrikes on Sunday.
Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus confirmed Monday the army aimed to prevent the creation of a Kurdish-controlled corridor running almost the entire length of the border.
The US has always been trying to avert an escalation in violence between Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army forces operating in and around Jarablus and YPG fighters in the same region.
Speaking at a news conference in Ankara on Wednesday, Kalin said Turkey had no problem with Kurds at home, Iran, Iraq or Syria – or with any Kurd in any part of the world.
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The PKK has waged a deadly insurgency on Turkish territory for more than three decades. But they could be a turning point for Syria’s and the region’s Kurds.
