President Tayyip Erdogan told US President Donald Trump during his visit to Washington this week that Turkey would act “without asking anyone” if it faced any sort of attack from the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia, Turkish media reported on Thursday. Erdogan said that the United States had made its decision on the subject of the Raqqa operation and that Turkey could not participate, given the YPG involvement. “We told them … we do not regard your cooperation with a terrorist group in Raqqa as healthy,” Erdogan was cited as saying, but he said he expected a role for Turkey in Syria. The United States sees the YPG as distinct from the PKK and as a valuable partner in the fight against Islamic State. Turkey, the United States and European Union consider the PKK a terrorist organization.

Source: Egypt Independent May 18, 2017 08:37 UTC