Turkey's opposition party slams US for PKK-Daesh deal

By Emin Avundukluoglu

ANKARA

A senior deputy of Turkey’s opposition Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) on Friday slammed the U.S. for its support to the PKK/PYD terror group.

Erhan Usta, the parliamentary group chairman for MHP, criticized the U.S. over a deal between PKK/PYD and Daesh terrorist groups.

“The U.S. has now declared what was formerly tacit support [for the terrorist groups]. It shows that terrorist organizations are headed from the same center,” he said, speaking to Anadolu Agency.

Usta's remarks came after it was reported that a deal had been struck between Daesh and the SDF, a U.S.-backed force that consists largely of PKK/PYD terrorists, in Syria's Raqqa.

After speaking to many of those involved in the evacuation, BBC reported on Monday that a huge convoy consisting of around 50 trucks, 13 buses and more than 100 Daesh vehicles left Raqqah for Daesh-controlled territory to the southeast.

The report said Daesh also withdrew at least 10 vehicles loaded with arms and ammunition and the fighters included foreigners alongside Iraqis and Syrians.

Usta called on the U.S. to stop arming the PKK/YPG terrorist organization, recalling that weapons of U.S. origin were captured from PKK/YPG terrorists.

Usta said that Turkey would never allow the establishment of a state based on terror organizations along its Syrian borders.

He said: "This is very dangerous for the survival of Turkish Republic. For this reason, PKK, YPG and PYD are all the same terrorist organizations in our sight."

The PYD and its armed wing YPG are Syrian branches of the PKK, which has waged war against Turkey for more than 30 years.

Since the PKK launched its terror campaign in Turkey in 1984, tens of thousands of people have been killed, including more than 1,200 since July 2015.

The U.S. and the coalition have largely ignored the PYD/PYG links to the PKK, which the U.S., EU, and Turkey list as a terrorist group.

Most recently, the PKK/PYD, after declaring victory in Raqqah, released a video dedicating the triumph to Abdullah Ocalan, the convicted PKK terrorist leader jailed in Turkey since 1999.