US pledged support for Turkey in fight against PKK, PYD, defense minister claims

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The United States has pledged support for Ankara’s fight against Kurds – both with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and to prevent Kurdish territorial expansion in northern Syria, Turkey’s defense minister said after a meeting with US Secretary of Defense James Mattis.

“[T]here are three main topics that Mattis told us. ‘Firstly you deserve more support for the fight against the PKK, and we will give it. Secondly, we will support you more in the Euphrates Shield operation. And thirdly, it is not possible that the PYD will join cantons.’ This last point is especially important for us and I believe this has been achieved by means of the Euphrates Shield operation,” Fikri Isik said in an interview with Hurriyet Daily News at the Munich Security Conference where he met with Mattis.

Turkey has been engaged in a renewed conflict with the PKK since July 2015. Over months of clashes, Turkish security forces have imposed military curfews on cities and towns to conduct operations. Human rights observers have reported that many civilians have been deliberately targeted and whole neighbourhoods razed.

At least 2,571 people, including civilians, Turkish forces, and Kurdish forces have been killed to date, according to figures from the International Crisis Group.

Ankara has blamed the PKK for several deadly attacks and bombings throughout the country. Some have been claimed by the Kurdistan Freedom Hawks (TAK), a PKK-splinter group. The PKK is named a terrorist group by Turkey, the EU, and the United States.

Turkey believes that the dominant Kurdish groups in northern Syria are offshoots of the PKK and has warned against growing Kurdish control in the region known as Rojava. The Democratic Union Party (PYD) is the main Kurdish party there. It has established a self-autonomous region consisting of three cantons: Cizre and Kobane in the northeast and Efrin to the west. The Kurds would like to join up their three cantons.

This aspiration, combined with ISIS cross-border attacks into Turkish towns, spurred Ankara to launch its Euphrates Shield operation, sending its army into northern Syria where it and the Free Syrian Army (FSA) have pushed ISIS out of territory along the Turkey-Syria border and prevented Kurdish advances in the same area.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said that, after al-Bab where Turkish and FSA forces have been battling ISIS for several months, they will move onto Manbij and then Raqqa.

Manbij was retaken from ISIS last summer by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a coalition of forces led by the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG). The town is now under the control and administration of a locally formed Manbij Military Council. The YPG said they have departed the town, leaving it in full control of the local council. Ankara objected to Kurdish presence in the town and west of the Euphrates River.

In a recent interview with the Saudi Al Arabiya channel, Erdogan said the YPG has not left Manbij.

A commander in Manbij, Adnan Abu Amjad, told Al Jazeera that they would defend their city from Turkish forces. “If Erdogan wants to come to Manbij, it’s his business, but we will defend our city with all the strength we can find. As Syrian people, we’ll resist any interference in our internal affairs.”

The US-led coalition has provided some support to Turkey’s Euphrates Shield operation via airstrikes, most recently in al-Bab.

The US Department of Defense said Mattis expressed continued support for Turkey but their press release on the meeting made no mention of the Kurdish groups.

In his meeting with Isik, Mattis “recognized Turkey’s contributions to the NATO alliance and welcomed a transparent dialogue with an ally facing significant threats – within and outside its borders,” reads the statement. “Secretary Mattis assured Minister Isik of the support of the United States as a strategic partner in the counter-ISIS campaign.”

The two defense chiefs agreed to continue their bilateral activities and consultations “and to look for ways to further strengthen defense cooperation in the future,” the statement concludes.

US pledged support for Turkey in fight against PKK, PYD, defense minister claims

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