Turkey’s Defense Minister Nurettin Canikli explained his country’s position in a conversation with US Defense Secretary James Mattis on Wednesday on the sidelines of the NATO meeting in Brussels.
Noting that ISIS is nearly defeated in Syria, Canikli told reporters on Thursday that he “clearly told” Mattis that “the shipment of weapons should now end,” according to Hurriyet Daily News.
He said he also provided photographic evidence to Mattis that weapons supplied to the Syrian Kurdish forces, the People's Protection Units (YPG), had been used in a recent attack against Turkish forces in the southeast of Turkey. He named the AT-4 anti-tank rocket launcher “and expressed our belief that it might be one of the weapons given by the Americans to the YPG.”
In their meeting “Secretary Mattis acknowledged the threats posed to Turkey, and reiterated that the US will continue to stand with turkey in its fight against the PKK and all terrorist threats,” according to a US read out.
Ankara has repeatedly complained that the United States has aligned with terrorists in their backing of the YPG in Syria’s ground war against ISIS. Canikli said he provided evidence to Mattis that the YPG was under the same command as the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) – designated a terrorist organization by both Turkey and the United States.
The YPG, while following the doctrine of imprisoned PKK founder Abdullah Ocalan, deny they have links with the PKK and have served as one of the main components of the US-led anti-ISIS coalition partnered ground force, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
The SDF announced the liberation of Raqqa in October. They were criticized after photos emerged of a banner of Ocalan at a celebration in the city.
In June, Mattis said he could not guarantee that the United States would collect weapons from the YPG after ISIS is defeated. Ankara had claimed he promised to do just that and he would also provide the Turks with a list of all arms delivered to the Kurdish force.
The Democratic Union Party (PYD), the political wing of the YPG, pledged in May that arms supplied to Kurds in Syria would not make their way into PKK hands.
US support for the YPG was also on the table for discussion during Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim’s meeting with US Vice President Mike Pence in Washington on Thursday.
Pence “underscored the US commitment to stand with Turkey against the PKK and other terrorist threats,” according to a statement from the White House. The two hoped that their meeting would be the start of a “new chapter” in their relations though Pence expressed “deep concern” over large scale arrests in Turkey after last year’s failed coup, including American citizens and local employees of US missions.
Official Turkish sources told Hurriyet Daily News that the meeting went “better than expected.”
