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US 'opposes' establishment of autonomous Kurdish entity in northern Syria

July 15, 2015 at 12:04 pm

The US does not support the establishment of an autonomous Kurdish entity in northern Syria, America’s Special Presidential Envoy for the Global Coalition to Counter ISIS has revealed. Speaking to a think tank in Washington, General John Allen said, “We do not support and I do not think that the Kurds themselves support a governmental entity [in northern Syria].”

Turkey has accused Kurdish militias repeatedly of committing ethnic cleansing against Arabs in areas they retook from ISIS, especially after the group retook the border city of Tal Abyad in June. “It is important that a partner that has ultimately been enabled to defeat the self-proclaimed Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham [ISIS] does not become an occupying force,” Allen told a panel discussion at the Washington-based Centre for American Progress, a non-partisan policy group.

Allen also addressed the issue of the nuclear deal reached earlier on Tuesday between Iran and the P5+1 world powers, saying that some of America’s allies are concerned about the agreement. “For many of the members of the coalition, Iran has been, is and probably will remain one of the principal sources of threat to their national security,” he said. “I won’t speculate on the outcome of the announcement with respect to whether it will fundamentally change Iran’s behaviour, but it’s, of course, a very important question for all coalition members.”