Erdogan says disrespectful to define YPG/PYD as Kurds

By Zeynep Rakipoglu and Berk Ozkan

ISTANBUL (AA) – Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan reiterated Saturday his urge for distinguishing PKK terrorists from Kurdish people.

“It is disrespect to define the YPG and the PYG as the Kurds,” Erdogan told the opening ceremony for Social Security Institutions district branches in Istanbul.

“They [the YPG/PYD] are terrorists,” Erdogan added, referring to the Syrian offshoots of the PKK terror group.

The president urged not to confuse “terrorists with my Kurdish brothers.”

The YPG and its political wing, the PYD, are the Syrian offshoots of the PKK, a designated terror organization by Turkey, the U.S and the European Union.

In its more than 30-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK has been responsible for the deaths of 40,000 people, including women, children and infants.

* Writing by Dilara Hamit in Ankara