Turkish resentment of Russian support for YPG

Eldorar Alshamia Editor | 24 March, 2017
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Eldorar Alshamia:

Fikri Işık, Minister of National Defence of Turkey expressed his country's regret over the publishing of photographs of the commander of the Russian armies in the region, the rank of major, in Syria, which puts on his arm symbol of the Kurdish People Protection Units YPG in Aleppo.

"Turkey does not accept any kind of cooperation between the United States or Russia with YPG," he said, adding that Turkey continues to inform the Russian and American sides that "a terrorist organization can not be relied upon to confront another terrorist organization and hopes that the two countries stop cooperating with the terrorist organization YPG. "

Pictures showed the participation of Russian military personnel in a celebration of the "Nooroz holiday" in Aleppo, and took pictures with elements of the YPG militia carrying their motto.

The United States preceded Russia to that step

Similar pictures were published last year of US soldiers in Syria who put YPG logo on their arms, which angered Ankara, which responded to the move with a similar statement.

The United States and the Russians intersect in Syria on the issue of supporting the People Protection Units, and this was evident in their double support against the "Euphrates Shield" and the protection of the Free Syrian Army attack supported by the Turkish forces, prompting Turkish presidential spokesman Naumann Quartulmush to make the two countries choose between A large country like Turkey or the militia.

Russian soldiers were deployed near Manbij and American soldiers were deployed in the same area. InAfrin, north-east of Aleppo, there were also Russian soldiers, despite Turkey's attempts to sway Moscow and statements by Turkish officials about Russia's understanding of their positions on separatist militias on their borders.

Turkish soldier killed by fire coming from Afrin casts shadow on relations with Russia

A spokesman for the Turkish Foreign Ministry, Hussein Mufti Oglu, that they summoned on Thursday the Russian chargé d'affaires in Ankara, against the background of the killing of a Turkish soldier fired from areas controlled by the militia YPG from the Syrian side.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman said that they informed the Russian charge d'affaires of their resentment of the death of the Turkish soldier, and assured him that Turkey will respond in the same way if the incident repeated.

The Kurdish People's Protection Unit (YPG) is the armed wing of the Democratic Union Party (PYD), which Turkey regards as the arm of the PKK in Syria.

Mufti Oglu said that the reason for summoning the Russian charge d'affaires was that Russia was responsible for monitoring violations of the cease-fire in the area (the city of Afrin in northern Syria), adding that Turkish officials also transferred the country's stance of the deployment of Russian army in Afrin to the charge d'affaires.

The Turkish army announced on Sunday that a soldier was killed by shots fired from areas controlled by PYD inside Syrian territory, during his flight around the station of "Reyhanlı Bokolmaz" in the border province of Hatay, southern Turkey.

Russian political support for PYD

Turkish Foreign Ministry  spokesman also said that his country is waiting for Russia to take steps that would close the office of the Democratic Union Party (PYD) on its territory.

The Democratic Unionist Party (PYD) opened an office in the Russian capital Moscow in 2015, which Turkey strongly rejects.

Russia does not seem to respond to the turkish demands, as Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov reiterated his call for PYD to be included in the Geneva negotiations as "moderate Syrian opposition", unlike Moscow's previous position, which agreed with Ankara not to involve in any negotiations on Syria.

Russian newspapers had predicted a decline in relations between Russia and Turkey in the coming period against the backdrop of several files related to Syria, most notably the Russian insistence on supporting the PYD.