Kurds disappointed by Trump statements after Erdogan meeting

MESOP NEWS : THE PKK REPORTER’S OPINION – WLADIMIR VAN WILGENBURG

ARA News – 17 May 017 – VAN WILGENBURG – In a press conference with Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, United States President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that Washington supports Turkey in its fight against “terror groups” such as the Islamic State (ISIS) and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). Speaking to ARA News, official advisor of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) Dr. Nasr Haji Mansour said: “Trump’s statement today makes the situation more complicated. The Kurds have been waiting a tougher US position in the face of Turkey and its aggression against Rojava-Northern Syria.”

“Turkey insists to compare the YPG [SDF-linked Kurdish People’s Protection Units] to the ISIS terror group,” Mansour said.Turkey considers the YPG as a Syrian extension of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party.The Syrian Kurdish official suggested that it would have been better for the US president to demand a return to the Kurdish peace process in Turkey “which was eliminated by Erdogan’s government in July 2015 after two-and-half years.”

“Trying to satisfy Turkey by supporting it in its war against the Kurds and give a legitimacy to Turkey’s aggression in the region, in addition to describing the war against ISIS the same as PKK, will have a big impact on the region,” Mansour told ARA News.

“America had to play a role in this, particularly with the emergence of implicit calls for America to play the role of mediator in the Kurdish-Turkish conflict,” he concluded.However, Abdulkarim Omer, the head of foreign relations for Cezire Canton in Syria’s Kurdish region-Rojava, told ARA News that it is unlikely that the US will change its policy on Raqqa–where Kurds lead a major military operation to eliminate ISIS. “I don’t believe that after the Trump and Erdogan meeting the US policy will change,” Omer said. “The US support for the Raqqa operation will continue.”  www.mesop.de