The U.S. President Donald Trump's words are binding for Turkey, rather than other institutions which make statements contradicting his pledges, Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım said Tuesday, in response to a question about controversy surrounding Trump's recent remarks on terrorist PKK's Syrian offshoot and the Pentagon's statement contradicting it.
Speaking to reporters on his way back from an official trip to the U.K., Yıldırım said that Turkey takes the word of Trump as binding and contradictory statements by other institutions, such as the Pentagon regarding the PKK-affiliated Democratic Union Party's (PYD) armed wing, the People's Protection Units (YPG) are "their business."
"We always convey our thoughts and concerns regarding the matter to them [the U.S.] and we will continue to do so" Yıldırım said.
President Trump said his country will no longer provide weapons to the YPG during a phone conversation with President Erdoğan on Nov. 24. The remarks of the U.S. president were welcomed by Ankara, but Turkish officials emphasized that the U.S. needs to take concrete steps and retrieve the weapons that it had provided to the terrorist group.
Even though Turkey has sternly warned the U.S. against supplying arms to the the PYD/YPG, the U.S. continues to cooperate with the group, claiming that the group "has been efficient" in the fight against Daesh. Turkish officials have reiterated on multiple occasions that the PYD and the YPG are no different than the PKK, which is a globally recognized terrorist group.
In an effort to allay Turkey's concerns, the U.S. government underlined that it would end its cooperation with the YPG once the fight against Daesh ends. With this in mind, Turkey has been stressing that the fight against Daesh is coming to a close, and there is no point in further cooperating with the terror group.
Meanwhile, just a couple days following the Trump-Erdoğan phone conversation, the Pentagon announced on Nov. 27 that the U.S. will continue its partnership with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which includes YPG terrorists. The Pentagon also said they had previously told Turkey that the arms provided to the terrorists would be "limited, mission-specific and provided incrementally to achieve military objectives." Pentagon spokesman Eric Pahon said they were reviewing pending adjustments to the military support provided to the SDF based on requirements.
