US, Turkey must resolve YPG before others: ex-official

By Beyza Binnur Donmez

ANKARA (AA) - Retired Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt said the basic problem between Washington and Ankara in Syria is the YPG terror group and the recent safe-zone agreement there is "a baby step."

"Well, fundamentally the YPG is an offshoot of the PKK. The PKK is a terrorist organization that has been killing thousands and thousands inside of Turkey for years," the former State Department official acknowledged at a program hosted by Bloomberg news.

Turkish and U.S. military officials reached an agreement on Wednesday that a safe-zone in northern Syria will be a "peace corridor" for displaced Syrians longing to return home and establish a Joint Operations Center in Turkey to coordinate the establishment of the safe-zone.

Turkey does not want another threat in Syria, Kimmitt said.

With the U.S. using the YPG in Syria for its fight against Daesh, "the fight is significantly demolished," said Kimmitt. "The question is whose side are we on. Are we on the side of our NATO ally Turkey? Or, are we on the side of a group that has been killing Turks for years and years?”

The YPG is the Syrian offshoot of terror group PKK, which has been responsible for the deaths of nearly 40,000 people in Turkey, including many children, women, and infants, for more than 30 years.

Turkey has often raised concerns about the U.S. support for factions of the PKK against Daesh in the region, saying one terror outfit cannot be used against another.

Kimmitt also said the U.S. and Turkey should solve the issue in Syria before "harder" ones are tackled, such as Ankara’s purchase of the Russian S-400 missile defense system, Turkey’s removal from the U.S.’s F-35 program and Fetullah Gulen, the U.S.-based leader of the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), who is accused of orchestrating a defeated coup in Turkey in 2016, which left 251 people martyred and nearly 2,200 others injured.