Turkey, US relations heading toward ‘close combat’ in Syria: MHP chair

Umut Erdem – ANTALYA

Relations between Turkey and the U.S. are heading toward a dangerous point and a potential face-off due to the U.S.’s support for the People’s Protection Units (YPG) in Syria, Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli said on Feb. 11.

“U.S. special forces troops standing guard with terrorists [YPG militants] in Manbij [Syrian city] is infidelity and a disgrace. The origin of the weapons being used against Turkish soldiers is clear. The U.S. has been caught red-handed cooperating with terrorists. This hate, grudge and animosity; they are going toward a very dangerous point, a close combat,” Bahçeli said in the southern province of Antalya where he met with the party’s district and provincial heads.

Turkey has long protested U.S. support for the YPG, as Ankara sees it an extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), while Washington considers it as a “reliable ally” in its fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Syria.

“The U.S. has placed itself opposing Turkish people by standing beside the YPG. Our strategic partner, the country with which we stand side by side in NATO has collaborated with terror organizations. Mercy shown to the enemy is inability and weakness. If the U.S. does not turn back from its mistake; if provocation, harassment, and terror continue, the U.S.’s stance will be regarded as animosity,” he added.