Turkey on Thursday called for the removal of the US diplomat coordinating the international coalition fighting the ISIS in Iraq and Syria, accusing him of backing Syrian Kurdish militias.
Washington and Ankara are bitterly at odds over US support for the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) in Syria, which Turkey considers a front for banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) separatists. “Brett McGurk is definitely giving support to PKK and YPG. It would be useful if this person was replaced,” Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told NTV television.
last year, McGurk visited YPG members who controlled the Syrian town of Kobane and was awarded a plaque, which drew Turkey’s wrath.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan angrily told Washington at the time to choose between Ankara and “terrorists”.