Erdogan says 'US wants us to surrender to terrorists' - Turkey slams Pentagon's request to support Kurdish-dominated SDF

Sputnik
Tue, 13 Feb 2018 10:34 UTC

© AP Photo/ APTV

American soldier standing on an armored vehicle in the northern village of Darbasiyah, Syria

According to Erdogan, Washington's decision to give financial support to the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia will affect Ankara's decisions.

"We have 911 kilometers of border with Syria. What is their [US'] connection with the Syrian border? They have already spent 550 million dollars [to help the YPG], but now they want to increase this figure to three billion. You say that you are fighting against Daesh. And how many Daesh members did you destroy? Those who fought against Daesh are now fighting against Turkey. No one has the right to use Daesh as an excuse. It's time to finish this theater with Daesh, it's time to remove the masks," Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said.

In an address to the members of his ruling AK Party, Erdogan stated that a decision by the US to continue to fund the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia will affect Turkey's decisions.

"We are told: 'If we are hit, we will respond.' Those who say this, have never tried an Ottoman fist in their life," the Turkish president added.

Comment: Pentagon threatens Turkey: 'You hit us - We will respond aggressively'

The president has slammed Washington, saying that as NATO members, Turkey and the US are equal.

"If you say that the YPG is not a terrorist organization in our opinion if you are attacking a NATO ally, you should stand against it as a member of NATO," he said, adding that the US "wants us to surrender to terrorists."

Earlier this month, Erdogan claimed that US presence in Syria's town of Manbij was aimed against Turkey, Iran and maybe Russia.

READ MORE: Pentagon Sees No Indication of Turkey's Plans to Expand Olive Branch to Manbij

The speech of the Turkish president comes amid the ongoing operation of the Turkish Armed Forces dubbed "Olive Branch" in Syria's Kurds-dominated Afrin. The operation is carried out against Kurdish YPG forces which Ankara believes have links to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), designated as a terrorist organization in Turkey.

The operation came as a response to the statement made in January by US Col. Thomas Veale, who said that the US-led coalition had been training the Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) that comprises the YPG to create a 30,000-strong force to maintain security along Syria's borders.

Comment: On February 12, the Pentagon requested $550 million to train and equip units operating under the brand of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

The $550 million will be separated into two parts:

• $300 million to train and equip the SDF;
• $250 million for so-called "border security requirements related to the counter-[ISIS] mission".

In other words, Washington not only tricked the Erdogan government with its promises to drop support to the SDF, but not even abandoned the idea to establish the so-called "border force" in northern Syria.

Ankara describes the Kurdish-dominated SDF as well as its core the People's Protection Units (YPG) and Women's Protection Units (YPJ) as a terrorist organization, the local branch of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). The PKK is officially designated as a terrorist group by Turkey, the US and many other countries and is involved in a long-standing militancy campaign against the Aknara government. Thus, Turkey sees any arms supplies or additionally trained forces within the SDF in northern Syria as a threat to its national security.

The US Defense Department has called on Congress to approve a major budget increase in order to counter "threats" from Russia, China, and North Korea.

The Pentagon on Monday asked for a budget of $686 billion to be allocated to military spending in 2019. The requested amount is one of the largest in US history. The budget sees an increase of $80 billion from 2017.

Under-Secretary of Defense David L. Norquist told reporters on Monday that the budget aims to neutralize threats posed by China and Russia which "want to shape a world consistent with their own authoritarian intentions."

"We recognize that, if unaddressed, our eroding US military advantage versus China and Russia could undermine our ability to deter aggression and coercion in key strategic regions," he added.

See also:

• Trump releases 2019 budget plan slated to boost spending on infrastructure, military and Mexican border wall
• Turkish FM Mevlut Cavusoglu says Ankara-Washington ties at very critical point - Turkey will close Incirlik airbase if needed, Turkish official says