Turkey issued a diplomatic note to the U.S. for treating a terrorist leader as a legitimate political figure by planning to hold talks soon, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said, as he criticized Washington for turning a blind eye to the fact that the terrorist in question is sought with an international arrest warrant.
"The moment we start legitimizing holding talks with terrorists, they will start holding talks with Baghdadi tomorrow," Çavuşoğlu said, referring to the Daesh terrorist leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. The foreign minister criticized its allies for making it a "tradition" to hold talks with terrorists, saying that communicating with terrorists, especially with one that is sought with an Interpol arrest warrant, is unacceptable.
The diplomatic note was issued after U.S. officials announced their communication with the PKK-linked People's Protection Units (YPG) ringleader Ferhat Abdi Şahin, also known by the code name Mazloum Kobani.
President Donald Trump recently said he had a conversation with the aforementioned terrorist, calling him a "wonderful man."
"Thank you General Mazloum for your kind words and courage. Please extend my warmest regards to the Kurdish people. I look forward to seeing you soon," Trump said, disregarding Turkey's concerns about the terrorist, considered as the foster child of terrorist PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan, who is currently imprisoned in Turkey.
Turkish officials are pushing the U.S. to extradite the YPG terrorist if he visits the U.S., as they note there is a Red Notice against the terrorist, which is valid in 196 countries.
The U.S. has provided military training and given truckloads of military support to the YPG, despite its NATO ally's security concerns. The country continues to provide assistance to the terrorist group even though Daesh has officially been defeated in Syria.
