Turkish Defense Minister Yasar Güler will hold talks with a visiting delegation from the US House of Representatives on Friday to tackle the Syrian war and American support for the People's Protection Units (YPG), the largest component of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in Syria.
During a press conference in Ankara, the Turkish defense ministry's media and public relations advisor, Zeki Akturk, said four members of the US House of Representatives Armed Services Committee will pay a visit to Ankara on Friday for talks with the Turkish Defense Minister.
“The meeting will focus on several files, most notably the fight against terrorism, Syria in general, in addition to the US support for the YPG, which forms the Syrian branch of the Türkiye-based Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK),” Akturk said.
The US support for Kurdish militant groups in Syria is one of the pressing issues in US-Turkish relations. Washington considers the YPG as its main ally in the fight to dismantle ISIS in Syria.
In return, Ankara says the US must end support for the YPG, which it is fighting in northern Syria.
US and Turkish officials already discussed the Kurdish issue during the Türkiye-US Strategic Mechanism meetings held in Washington early this month.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, who led his country’s delegation, said he conveyed Ankara’s objections to the support provided by the US to the YPG/PKK, including the transfer of weapons and trainings.
“The Republic of Türkiye is fighting and will continue to fight against all threats and terrorist sources that pose a threat within or outside its borders,” the minister said, adding that his country “will not wait for permission from anyone to do so.”
Earlier, the Turkish defense minister echoed the same position. He criticized the US support for the Kurdish units and said it contradicts the alliance relations between Ankara and Washington. “It is not possible to fight a terrorist organization using another terrorist organization,” he stressed.
Last week, Turkish reports said Washington had expressed its readiness to discuss the Syrian war with Ankara, in light of the new climate in relations between the two countries.
The reports also said that during the meeting of the Strategic Mechanism, the US confirmed its readiness to “strategically discuss Syria.”
Currently, around 900 US troops are located in Northeast Syria.
During an annual Iftar with veterans in Ankara on Wednesday, Güler vowed that the Turkish military would uproot the “terrorist” PKK organization and its expansion in Syria (YPG), and would eliminate any threat to its southern borders and the security of its people.
