Ankara: Turkey on Monday slammed the United States for being “shadowed by its terrorist propaganda” and has advised Washington to honour its “strategic partnership” with Ankara.
“Terrorists cannot be your partners and allies. Turkey expects the US to honour our strategic partnership and doesn’t want it to be shadowed by terrorist propaganda,” tweeted Ibrahim Kalin, spokesperson of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Directly targeting the US-back Kurdish forces in Syria, Kalin further said: “There is no difference between DAESH (Islamic State), The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), PYD (Democratic Union Party) and YPG (PKK’s Syrian affiliate, the People’s Protection Units). We will continue to fight against them all.”
Turkey’s response came hours after US President Donald Trump warned Ankara of “economic devastation” if it targets US-backed Kurdish forces in Syria.
Turkey’s relationship with the US has been difficult since Washington decided to ship thousands of truckloads of weapon and ammunition to YPG.
Last week, President Donald Trump’s national security advisor John Bolton had also announced that US army troops will be pulled out of Syria only after defeating the Islamic States (ISIS) and ensuring that the Kurds are safe.
US commanders have also recommended to the Pentagon that Kurdish fighters battling Islamic State in Syria should be allowed to keep US-supplied weapon after the exit of US troops from the regions.
On December 19, the US President announced the withdrawal of the troops from Syria.
[source_without_link]ANI[/source_without_link]