US alliance with terror group in Syria 'grave mistake'

By Bekir Bektas

ANTALYA, Turkey (AA) - Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said early Thursday it was" a grave mistake" that the U.S. preferred to work with a terrorist organization in Syria.

Speaking at a pre-dawn suhoor meal in southern Antalya province, Cavusoglu said Turkey had been working for a while to remove the PKK-affiliated YPG terror group from its borders.

"In fact, we are not the reason for this problem. But the U.S., which is our ally, they have supported a terrorist organization. They have preferred to work with that terrorist organization in Syria. It was a grave mistake," he said.

Stating that Turkey now was trying to make Washington correct its mistake, Cavusoglu said: "Because it is a self-contradiction for a country which says it is fighting against terrorism but makes an alliance with such a terror group."

The PYD and its military wing YPG are Syrian branches of the PKK terrorist network, which has waged war against Turkey for more than 30 years.

Since the PKK launched its terror campaign in Turkey in 1984, tens of thousands of people have been killed.

The U.S. and the coalition have largely ignored the links of the PYD/YPG group with the PKK, which the U.S. and the EU also list as a terrorist group.

Turkey has repeatedly objected to U.S. support for the terrorist PKK/YPG as a “reliable ally” in Syria, which has included supplying arms and equipment.