Turkish PM: Trump says wrong to provide arms to YPG

By Nilay Kar Onum

ANKARA

U.S. President Donald Trump recently told his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan in clear terms that it was "wrong" to supply weapons to the PKK/YPG, the Turkish prime minister has confirmed.

Binali Yildirim's comments came during an interview with BBC World.

" Trump understood what is important for Turkey," Yildirim said, in reference to Trump's pledge to Erdogan in a Friday phone call on ending the supply of arms to the terrorist PKK/PYD and PKK/YPG in Syria.

"They [the U.S.] said this [cooperation with YPG or PYD] is not a choice. This is a necessity… Ok. We although we do not accept. It is a temporary relation. Now, it is time to finish because Daesh is already defeated," the premier said.

"So, President Trump said it is wrong to provide weapons. This is clearly mentioned."

Stating that Turkish policy on fighting against Daesh had been quite "clear" since the beginning, Yildirim said it was important to "choose the right partner" to fight Daesh.

"You are not able to fight a terror organization using another terror organization," he added.

The U.S. later said it is "reviewing pending adjustments to the military support provided to our Kurdish partners in as much as the military requirements of our defeat-ISIS and stabilization efforts will allow ISIS from returning," referring to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, another name for Daesh.

"We have always been clear with Turkey that the weapons provided to the SDF, to include its Kurdish elements, would be limited, mission-specific and provided incrementally to achieve military objectives," Pentagon spokesman Eric Pahon told Anadolu Agency. He said the U.S. would "continue our partnership with the Syrian Democratic Forces to complete the military defeat of ISIS".

At the White House, spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said even though a complete defeat of Daesh is in sight, "that doesn’t mean stopping all support of those individual groups".

"Once we started winning the campaign against ISIS, the plan and part of the process is to always wind down support for certain groups," she said. "Now that we're continuing to crush the physical caliphate, we're in a position to stop providing military equipment to certain groups."

No doubt about Gulen's links to coup bid

In response to a question whether Turkey had submitted evidence to Washington showing Fetullah Gulen, the U.S-based leader of the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), had links to last year's defeated coup attempt, Yildirim said the necessary documents had been submitted.

"For us, it is obvious. We have no hesitation. We have no doubt about it," he said, referring to Gulen's role in the defeated coup bid.

According to the Turkish government, FETO and Gulen orchestrated the defeated coup of July 15, 2016, which martyred 250 people and injured nearly 2,200 others.

Ankara also accuses FETO of being behind a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police and judiciary.

Yildirim also answered a question on accusations about the detentions since the defeated coup attempt.

"This kind of accusation is there. I accept. But those who are accusing us should think about what happened on July 15," he said.

"Our parliament building [was] bombed. And their bombs killed 250 innocent people and [left] 2,194 heavily injured. What can we do then? We have to find [those] who committed . This is the situation in Turkey," Yildirim said.

"We don’t detain people without evidence. This is for sure," he said, adding the rule of law prevailed in Turkey.

The Turkish premier called on Turkey's critics to show "empathy" instead.

"Did you face this kind of thing? If you face this kind of thing, then we will see what you are going to do," he said.

Yildirim also dismissed accusations that Erdogan had been becoming an "authoritarian" leader.

"Erdogan is not deciding who is going to jail or who is going to [be] freed. The court is deciding," he said, adding there was freedom of the press in Turkey.

"We have a free press," he said. "Even the pro-PKK paper is published."