UPDATE - Daesh, PKK/YPG 2 sides of same coin: Erdogan

UPDATES WITH FURTHER REMARKS OF ERDOGAN AT THE INAUGURATION CEREMONY IN KARAMAN

By A. Eda Unlu Ozen and Meryem Goktas

KARAMAN, Turkey (AA) - Turkey will not rest until the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO) -- the group responsible for last year’s defeated coup -- pays for its crimes, said Turkey’s president on Sunday.

"We will pursue the murderers until the last FETO member is held accountable before the law," Recep Tayyip Erdogan told a local meeting of the ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party in the central Karaman province.

FETO and its U.S. based leader Fetullah Gulen are responsible for the defeated coup of July 15, 2016, which left 250 martyred and injured nearly 2,200.

Erdogan also blasted the U.S. for trying to use one terrorist group to fight another, referring to it arming and supporting the terrorist PKK/PYD in Syria to fight Daesh.

Citing a deal with the terrorist group PKK/YPG -- the armed branch of the terrorist PKK/PYD -- allowing hundreds of Daesh terrorists to escape the besieged city of Raqqah unharmed, Erdogan said: “The drama in Raqqah made it clear -- without no chance for denial -- that Daesh and the YPG are two sides of same coin.”

The BBC reported last month that under the deal, 250 terrorists and 3,500 of their family members were allowed to flee Raqqah on Oct. 12, along with 10 vehicles loaded with arms and ammunition.

The PYD and its military wing YPG are Syrian branches of the PKK terrorist network.

While recognizing the PKK as a terrorist group, the U.S. has treated the PKK/PYD/YPG as an ally in its anti-Daesh efforts.

At a separate event in Karaman, Erdogan said: "None of the incidents around our country are independent of each other. The massacre in Syria and the provocative move on Jerusalem, both have the same target."

He added that the crises in Iraq, Yemen and the Gulf region are all "pillars of the same project".

"Some powers want to redraft the ancient geography of Turkey."

He said that terrorist organizations are the most brutal and immoral tool of this game.

"We saw this game, decrypted it. We did not leave it like that, we are taking the needed steps to ruin this game."