ANKARA: The United St­a­tes’ support for the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia is a “big mistake”, Turkish For­eign Minister Mevlut Cavus­oglu said late on Saturday, adding that the issue had strained ties between the Nato allies.

Turkey has been infuriated with Washington’s support for the YPG, which it views as an extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) waging a decades-long insurgency on Tur­kish soil. US-Turkey ties have been strained over issues including US policy in Syria, the case of an Ameri­can pastor in Turkey, and Turkey’s dem­ands for the extradition of US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom Ankara blames for a 2016 failed coup.

Cavusoglu, who is in the United States on an official visit, said tensions between Ankara and Washington stemmed from US support for the YPG and the issue of Gulen, against whom he said the FBI had launched an investigation.

“Despite knowing and acknowledging that (the YPG) is the same organisation (as the PKK), seeing this cooperation as necessary is really a big mistake,” Cavus­oglu said, adding that he would discuss bilateral relations with his US counterpart Mike Pompeo on Tuesday.

On Sunday, Turkish Defe­nce Minister Hulusi Akar said he had told US Chief of Staff Joseph Dunford that Turkey expected the United States to stop its support for the YPG as soon as possible, according to the state-owned Anadolu news agency.

“We reiterated our warnings and stated that we expected our US counterparts to take the necessary measures and end their relationship with the YPG, which is no different than the PKK, as soon as possible,” Akar was quoted as saying.

“We reminded them that the United States, our ally and strategic partner here (Syria), and US soldiers cooperating with such an organisation (YPG) cannot be acceptable in any way,” he said.

Published in Dawn, November 19th, 2018