Majority of Turks Regard US as Foe After Washington Decision to Arm Syrian Kurds

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — A total of 96.9 percent of the Turks, or 16,774 individuals, perceive the United States as an enemy following Washington's decision to arm the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) militia, a poll showed Monday.

On May 9, the US Defense Department announced that President Donald Trump approved a plan to arm YPG, the military branch of the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), in order to better fight the Islamic State terror group (Daesh, or ISIL, banned in Russia) in Syria, despite objections from Turkey.

The Yeni Safak newspaper survey also showed that a total of 94.3 percent of the respondents, approximately 11,000 people, had the same position regarding the NATO, seeing it as a threat, given the circumstances.

Ankara considers the YPG to be affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which is listed as a terror group in Turkey, the United States and the European Union. However, PYD and YPG, as well as the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have been receiving support from the United States in fighting Daesh in Syria.