Turkey vows to fight against Kurdish forces after US threat

ANKARA - Turkey on Monday vowed to continue fighting a US-backed Kurdish militia which it views as a terrorist group after US President Donald Trump warned of economic devastation if Ankara attacks Kurdish forces as US troops withdraw.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said on Twitter that there was "no difference" between the Islamic State extremist group and the Kurdish People's Protection Units (also known as YPG).

"Mr @realDonaldTrump It is a fatal mistake to equate Syrian Kurds with the PKK, which is on the US terrorists list, and its Syria branch PYD/YPG," he wrote on Twitter.

Turkey's response came after Trump on Sunday warned on Twitter: "Will attack again from an existing nearby base if it reforms. Will devastate Turkey economically if they hit Kurds. Create 20 mile safe zone ... Likewise, do not want the Kurds to provoke Turkey."

Kalin said on Monday Trump should respect Washington's alliance with Ankara.

"Terrorists can't be your partners & allies. Turkey expects the US to honor our strategic partnership and doesn't want it to be shadowed by terrorist propaganda."

Relations between the two NATO allies have been strained over US backing for the Kurdish YPG, which Turkey views as an extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (also known as PKK) that is waging a decadeslong insurgency on Turkish soil.

The PKK is blacklisted as a terrorist organization by Ankara, the United States and the European Union.

But Washington has been working closely in recent years with the YPG, providing military support and training, in the fight against the IS group in Syria.

Kalin said that Turkey fought against terrorists not Syrian Kurds.

US support to the YPG has been one of the main sources of tension between Turkey and the US, but there appeared to be some improvement on the issue after Trump said last month 2,000 US troops would withdraw from Syria.

Ankara welcomed the pullout decision after Erdogan told Trump in a phone call last month that Turkey could finish off the last remnants of the IS group.

However, there has been growing friction between Turkey and the US over the fate of the YPG, especially after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had previously said Washington would ensure Turkey would not "slaughter" Kurds.

And before a visit to Ankara last week, White House National Security adviser John Bolton said the US retreat was conditional on the safety of the Kurdish fighters, provoking angry retorts from Turkish officials.

Erdogan's communications director Fahrettin Altun said, "Turkey will continue its anti-terror fight decisively" and that it was a protector of the Kurds, not their enemy.

"Terror is terror and it must be eradicated at its source. This is exactly what Turkey is doing in Syria," he wrote on Twitter.

Afp - Reuters

(China Daily 01/15/2019 page11)