ERDOGAN RIPS U. S. PLAN TO ARM KURDS

NATO ally Turkey urges change of tactic to beat ISIS in Syria

The United States must support its NATO ally Turkey and reverse its decision to arm Syrian Kurds in the battle against the Islamic State, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Wednesday.

Erdogan rebuffed U. S. efforts to downplay the military plan announced Tuesday, saying he would take up the issue with President Trump when they meet in Washington next week.

“A terrorist group cannot be defeated with another one,” Erdogan said. “I want to believe that Turkey’s allies will side with us, not with terrorist organizations.”

Earlier Wednesday, U. S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said he was confident the U. S. can resolve tensions with Turkey, vowing to “work very closely with Turkey in support of their security.”

U. S. officials said Tuesday that Trump approved directly arming the Syrian Democratic Forces, about 50,000 fighters divided between Arabs and Kurds. The SDF will be a driving force in the effort to repel ISIS militants from their Syrian stronghold in Raqqa. The Kurdish YPG organization in the SDF is viewed by Turkey as a terrorist group.

Turkey says Arabs, not Kurds, should lead the effort to take back Raqqa and wants the Kurds removed from the complicated military equation. The U. S. decision to arm the Kurds drew an outcry across Turkey. Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu stressed that “every weapon they ( Kurds) obtain is a threat to Turkey.”

Prime Minister Binali Yidirim said the U. S. still has the “opportunity” to alter its position. “If a negative decision is taken, its consequences will not only be against Turkey but have a negative impact on the U. S., too,” he said.

Turkish leaders have declined to detail what steps Turkey might take. The U. S. flies military strikes against the Islamic State out of Incirlik, a Turkish base. Turkey views the YPG as an arm of the leftist Kurdistan Workers’ Party, which for decades has pressed a violent struggle for Kurdish self- determination in Turkey. Turkey, the U. S. and European Union all view the Kurdistan Workers’ Party as a terrorist group.

The Pentagon policy had been to pro- vide arms only to Arab fighters. The Kurds, however, have proved to be a formidable fighting force. Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White said in a statement Tuesday that arming the entire SDF was “necessary to ensure a clear victory over ISIS in Raqqa,” but stressed that Washington understood Turkish security concerns. “We want to reassure the people and government of Turkey that the U. S. is committed to preventing additional security risks and protecting our NATO ally,” White said.

Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Nurettin Canikli dismissed the U. S. reassurances, saying Wednesday that Ankara cannot accept a NATO ally supporting the Kurdish fighters.

“We cannot accept the presence of terrorist organizations that would threaten the future of the Turkish state,” Canikli said.