Turkish president slams U.S. for supporting Syrian Kurdish fighters
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan upbraided the United States for its support of Syrian Kurdish rebels on Wednesday, saying Washington's inability to understand the group's true nature had turned the region into a "sea of blood."
Erdogan says Washington's backing of Kurdish rebels helped turn region into 'sea of blood'
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan upbraided the United States for its support of Syrian Kurdish rebels on Wednesday, saying Washington's inability to understand the group's true nature had turned the region into a "sea of blood."
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"Are you on our side or the side of the terrorist PYD and PKK organization?" Erdogan said in a speech in Ankara to provincial officials, referring to Washington's backing of the Syrian Kurdish fighters against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
Turkey considers the Democratic Union Party (PYD) to be a terrorist organization, citing its ties to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has carried out a three-decade violent insurgency for Kurdish autonomy in Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast.