The diplomat threateningly added that “it will be regretted, but it will be too late.”
“The Obama administration had put NATO member Turkey and the Kurdish Democratic Union Party, or PYD, on an equal footing — an ally and a terrorist organization,” Serdar Kilic said in an interview with The Washington Post.
Washington has long seen the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) and its YPG military wing as its best chance in the battle against Daesh (ISIL/ISIS) in Syria — much to the annoyance of Ankara, which sees the group as terrorists.
Turkey has shelled YPG positions inside Syria for four straight days, claiming the group threatens Turkish security.
US officials, including Vice President Joe Biden, have condemned the Turkish attacks on the YPG.
Meanwhile, Turkey wants to create a secure zone 10km within Syria, which would include the town of Azaz, according to a Reuters report.
Earlier in February, Turkey has summoned the US ambassador to the Turkish foreign ministry after a US State Department spokesman said Washington did not regard the PYD as a terrorist organization.
On Tuesday, the UN Security Council urged Ankara to adhere to international law in Syria, following a closed-door briefing requested by Russia. The meeting was called to address ongoing Turkish shelling of YPG positions across the Syrian border.
Syria's Kurdish Democratic Union Party has ties to Turkey's Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which remains listed as a terrorist group by the US State Department. However, while originally a communist organization, the group's imprisoned leader Abdullah 'Apo' Ocalan has switched philosophies, and now advocates the idea of a democratic confederacy which respects environmentalism and female equality. He remains an inspiration to Kurdish troops in Syria and Iraq who continue to fight Daesh alongside the central governments of those countries.
