Turkey wants Trump to fire US envoy as ‘supporter’ of Kurdish militants

Turkey said today that the US special envoy in the battle against Daesh should be removed because he supported Kurdish militants, and warned that Ankara would act unilaterally if it faced attack from the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia.

The comments, which followed a White House meeting on Tuesday between President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and US President Donald Trump, reflected Turkish anger at Trump’s decision to arm YPG fighters who are part of a force aiming to recapture the Daesh-held Syrian city of Raqqa.

Ankara regards the YPG militia as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militant groups fighting a decades-old insurgency in southeast Turkey that has killed tens of thousands of civilians, while Washington sees the YPG as its most reliable ally for the Raqqa campaign.

Turkey has long complained that US policy against Daesh in Syria has favoured the YPG over Arab opposition forces, a policy that Turkish officials believe is driven partly by Washington’s envoy to the international coalition against the extremist group.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told Turkish NTV television that:

Brett McGurk, the USA’s special envoy in the fight against Daesh is definitely and clearly giving support to the PKK and YPG. It would be beneficial if this person is changed.

The United States and the European Union, along with Turkey, designate the PKK a terrorist organisation.

Erdogan, speaking to reporters at the Turkish embassy in Washington after the talks with Trump, said he told the US president that Turkey would not hesitate to strike if it faced any sort of attack from the YPG, Turkish media reported.

Read More: Erdogan to Trump: Turkey will act if Syria Kurds attack

“We clearly told them this: if there is any sort of attack from the YPG and PYD against Turkey, we will implement the rules of engagement without asking anyone,” Sabah newspaper cited him as saying. The PYD is the YPG’s political arm.

Erdogan did not specify what measures he might order, but said Turkey had shown its fighting capabilities when Turkish forces and Syrian rebels seized territory in northern Syria last year, pushing back Daesh fighters and prompting a limited withdrawal of hardline YPG leftist extremists.

“Indeed we did this in Al-Rai, Jarablus, Al-Bab. Turkey showed what it can do,” Erdogan said. “We will not give terrorist groups breathing space domestically or abroad.”

Tensions with allies

Cavusoglu said Trump had understood Turkey’s position, and did not challenge Erdogan when the Turkish president set out his possible response to the YPG.

Last month, Turkish warplanes bombed Kurdish fighters in Iraq’s Sinjar region and YPG militia in Syria, drawing a rebuke from Washington which voiced concern over the airstrikes and said they harmed the coalition’s fight against Daesh, a charge Ankara immediately rubbished.

Erdogan said that the United States had made its decision on conducting the Raqqa operation – despite Ankara’s opposition – and that Turkey could not participate given the YPG involvement.

The Turkish president was cited as saying:

We told them [the US]…we do not regard your cooperation with a terrorist group in Raqqa as healthy.

But he said he expected a role for Turkey in Syria, and repeated Turkey’s assertion that once Raqqa was retaken from Daesh, Kurdish forces could not be left in control of an Arab city. “I believe they will knock on our door on the subject of Syria,” he said.

The tensions with Washington over the YPG come as Turkey’s relations with the European Union, and Germany in particular, have also deteriorated.

Read More: ‘Goodbye,’ Turkey says as Germany threatens to leave Incirlik

Turkey has prevented German parliamentarians visiting its Incirlik airbase, where 250 German troops are based as part of a mission which includes German surveillance planes supporting the campaign against Daesh in Syria and Iraq.

Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen said yesterday the German government had been evaluating possible alternatives to Incirlik and was considering moving the troops to Jordan.

Turkey responded that it did not care whether Germany wanted to keep its troops in Turkey or not, and said it would be willing to tell the Germans “Goodbye” if they decided to leave and would not beg them to stay.