Turkish party leader blasts US for giving medical training to PKK

By Emin Avundukluoglu

ANKARA (AA) - A Turkish party leader on Tuesday criticized a medical training camp organized by the US forces for the YPG/PKK terrorists in Syria.

"The statement by the US Central Command's (CENTCOM) that the YPG/PKK terrorists protecting Syria's occupied oil facilities were given medical assistance in May is a terrible distortion," Devlet Bahceli, the head of Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), told his party's parliamentary group.

Bahceli noted that the US soldiers showed YPG/PKK terrorists -- guised as SDF operatives -- how to deal with the seriously injured.

"They taught wound closure, dressing, pressure bandage and tourniquet application. In other words, US soldiers trained terrorists in first aid. This is a complete disgrace, a complete rot," he said.

Providing training to the YPG/PKK, and aiding them with weapons, is another way to harm Turkey, Bahceli said.

The US-backed SDF is spearheaded by the YPG, the Syrian branch of the PKK. The PKK is a designated terrorist organization in the US, Turkey and EU, and Washington's support for its Syrian affiliate has been a major strain on relations with Ankara.

Bahceli reiterated that the meeting between President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and US President Joe Biden will take place on the sidelines of the June 14 NATO leaders summit in Brussels, Belgium.

"I believe that our esteemed president will tell US President Biden about the scandalous developments that are incompatible with the alliance, the closeness established with the terrorist organization," he said.