Turkey assails US over ties with Syrian Kurdish militia
Turkey’s foreign minister assailed the United States on Monday, saying that American forces in Syria are intentionally stalling the fight against the Daesh terror group as an excuse not to cut ties with Syrian Kurdish militiamen as Ankara has demanded.
Mevlut Cavusoglu told reporters in Istanbul that US forces are leaving “pockets” with Daesh terrorists intact to justify continued cooperation with the Kurdish militia, AP reported.
Speaking ahead of a visit by US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson later this week, Cavusoglu said Turkey’s ties with the US are at a make-orbreak stage and that Washington needs to take “concrete steps” to regain Turkey’s trust.
“Our relations are at a very critical stage,” Cavusoglu said. “Either we will improve ties or these ties will totally break down.”
Ankara is riled over Washington’s support for the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units, or YPG — the top US ally in the fight against the Daesh terror group.
Turkey considers the YPG a “terrorist” group linked to Kurdish insurgents fighting within Turkey’s own borders.
Turkey’s military launched a cross-border operation into the Syrian Kurdish-held enclave of Afrin in northern Syria to rout the YPG from the region.
Ankara has also threatened to expand its offensive to the Ypg-held town of Manbij, east of Afrin, where the US has a military presence, setting the scene for a potential showdown between the two NATO allies that back different sides in Syria’s complex and multi-layered war.
Meanwhile, Syria’s deputy foreign minister has hailed Syria’s downing of an Israeli warplane over the weekend as a “military achievement,” which he said reflects Syria’s determination to defeat its enemies.
The comments by Faisal Mekdad are the first by a senior government official since Syrian air defenses shot down an Israeli F-16 amid Israeli airstrikes that hit targets in Syria on Saturday.
Israel says it launched the airstrikes after it shot down an infiltrating drone. Israel has not confirmed whether its aircraft was actually shot down, which would mark the first such instance for Israel since 1982, in the first Lebanon war.
Mekdad said any party that commits acts of aggression against Syria will “suffer the same fate.” Comments by US Vice President Mike Pence suggest the United States may be looking more favorably at diplomatic engagement with North Korea as South Korea considers a rare summit with its neighbor.
Pence said in a newspaper interview the United States and South Korea had agreed on terms for further diplomatic engagement with North Korea, first with Seoul and then possibly leading to direct talks with Washington, Reuters reported on Monday.
The prospect of talks comes after months of tension between Pyongyang, Seoul and Washington over North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs, with US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un trading insults and threats of destruction amid tightening sanctions from the United Nations.
Speaking to the Washington Post aboard Air Force Two on his way home from the Games, Pence said Washington would keep up its “maximum pressure campaign” against Pyongyang but would be open to possible talks at the same time.
“The point is, no pressure comes off until they are actually doing something that the alliance believes represents a meaningful step toward denuclearization,” Pence was quoted on Sunday as saying. “So the maximum pressure campaign is going to continue and intensify. But if you want to talk, we’ll talk.”
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Monday it was too early to judge whether latest developments represented the start of a diplomatic process.
Last year, North Korea conducted dozens of missile launches and its sixth and largest nuclear test in defiance of UN Security Council resolutions as it pursues its goal of developing a nuclear-armed missile capable of reaching the United States.
Relations between the two Koreas have improved in recent weeks, with Pyongyang sending its highest ranking delegation ever to attend the Winter Olympic Games, being held in the South Korean resort of Pyeongchang.
The visit included an invitation for South Korean President Moon Jae-in to travel to Pyongyang for talks. Such a meeting, if it came about, would mark the first inter-korean summit since 2007.
South Korea said it would seek ways to continue engaging North Korea, including trying to arrange more reunions for families divided by the war and lowering military tensions.
The statement from the Ministry of Unification came after the North Korean delegation concluded its threeday visit.
“(The visit) shows that North Korea has a strong will to improve inter-korean relations and that Pyongyang can make unprecedented and bold measures if deemed necessary,” the ministry said.
The visit of the delegation, which included North Korean leader’s younger sister, Kim Yo Jong, intrigued many in South Korea, but also met skepticism about the North’s willingness to give up its pursuit of nuclear weapons. North Korea has said it will never give up its nuclear deterrent and critics in the South see its participation in the Games as a reward for bad behavior.
Kim Yo Jong and her delegation spent three days dining with top government officials, watching the opening ceremony and cheering for the united women’s ice hockey team the two Koreas have fielded at this Olympics.