Earlier this week, the Greek website euro2day.gr reported that Erdogan told EU Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker at the G20 summit in Antalya: “We can open the doors to Greece and Bulgaria any time and put the refugees on buses”.
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“We don’t, as you know, recognize the PYD as a terrorist organization”, Kirby said. “As you have never recognized them [as terror groups] the region has turned into a pool of blood”.
The cooperation between the PYD and the USA in the fight against the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) has increased, much to the dismay of Ankara.
The dispute risks further complicating the search for a solution to Syria’s five-year conflict, drawing a wedge between two key members of the anti-IS coalition and driving another nail into the coffin of a process of peace talks.
“The leadership cadre and ideology of the PKK and PYD is the same”, argued Davutoglu.
“The €3bn is not in our budget, where has it gone?” asked Erdoğan. “We are making preparations for it”, Erdogan said in a speech to a business forum in Ankara. “But there are no principles here”.
Davutoğlu also criticized the USA for not listing the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) as a terrorist organization.
Erdogan snarled on Wednesday, referring to a meeting between US envoy Brett McGurk and Kurdish leaders in the Syrian border city of Kobani. “Even the best of friends aren’t going to agree on everything”, Kirby said.
“Kurdish fighters have been some of the most successful in going after Daesh inside Syria”, he said, using another name for the Islamic State group.
“With the defeat at Minnigh, Islamist fighters lost the only military airport they held in Aleppo province”, Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.
Turkey says that the Syrian Kurdish groups are simply a branch of the rebel Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which is recognized as a terror group by the United States, and has carried out a string of deadly attacks in Turkey in the last months.
Gursel says those tensions have led to a redefining of the relationship.
Russian Federation has proposed a March 1 cease-fire, but Washington believes that will only give Moscow and the Syrian government three weeks to crush moderate rebel groups.
Attending an official ceremony on Wednesday, Merab Shamoyev, chairman of the International Union of Kurdish Public Associations, hailed the move as a historic moment for the Kurdish people.
The YPG seized the base from Nusra Front, al-Qaeda’s affiliate in Syria which has been fighting alongside other rebel groups in northern Syria, on 10 February, following Russian air strikes in the area in support of pro-government Syrian forces.
The International Committee of the Red Cross said the fighting has displaced about 50,000 people, mostly in the northern parts of Aleppo province.
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“Shame on you! Shame on you!” said Erdogan, saying the United Nations should be telling states to take in refugees from Turkey.
