Erdogan refuses to join coalition with ‘terrorists’ in defeating Daesh

President Recep Erdogan reiterated Turkey’s opposition to joining a coalition with the People’s Protection Units (YPG) and its political arm, the Democratic Union Party (PYD), in efforts to push Daesh out of its Syrian stronghold of Raqqa.

Turkey, which is a member of NATO and part of the coalition with the US and Arab states against Daesh, is reluctant to budge on the question of alliance with the PYD and YPG which it deems as “terrorist” organisations.

Speaking to reporters on his return from the UN summit in New York, Erdogan said: “Our foreign minister and military authorities are in talks with the United States discussing the matter of Raqqa. We shared with them our conditions.” He stressed the importance of the US-Turkey alliance before stipulating that “if the United States does not insert the PYD and YPG into this business, we can fight this battle with the United States.”

With another explosion in Turkey suspected to have been carried out by PKK forces earlier today, American hopes of building a broad coalition that includes Kurdish and Turkish forces appears very unlikely.