Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has announced that the US military presence in Syria after the defeat of Daesh (ISIS) is aimed at Turkey, Iran and Russia.
Mehmet Metiner, Turkish MP and member of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), elaborated on the president’s statement for Sputnik Turkiye, insisting that the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) and People’s Protection Units (YPG) are terrorist groups affiliated with Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a Turkey-based Kurdish group which Ankara considers a terrorist organization.
"The justification provided by the US for its arms shipments to a terrorist organization cannot look convincing. This is an operation directed against Turkey. We’ve repeatedly voiced our concerns to the US but they persistently continue to send weapons to the PKK, which is now starting to resemble an army; and Kurdish groups are now are now laying the foundation for their own government," Metiner said.
He pointed out that when Raqqa was liberated, the whole world saw how Daesh militants were simply relocated from there to another area controlled by Kurdish forces, adding that such an act would’ve been impossible without US approval.
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Metiner also noted that the US can maneuver the Kurdish organization not only against Turkey but other countries in the region as well.
"After strengthening its positions in the region, PKK will become a real threat, and not just to Turkey – its next goal will be destabilizing Iran’s Kurdish region. But apparently Iran does not realize the gravity of this situation if it continues to criticize the Turkish military operation in Afrin," the lawmaker said.
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He further insisted that US activities in the region are aimed at sabotaging Turkish, Iranian and Russian initiatives there.
"The current situation can be summed up like this: the US attempts to strengthen its position in the region by using Daesh and PKK to further its interests while countries like Russia, Turkey and Iran work to prevent it," Metiner said.
The views expressed in this article by Mehmet Metiner are solely those of the speaker and do not necessarily reflect the position of Sputnik.