MESOP : ERDOGAN THREATENING

TURKEY: CEASEFIRE DOES NOT APPLY IF WE ARE THREATENED

Turkey has also said that it will not comply with the ceasefire if it is threatened by Kurdish forces.“This [Syrian cease-fire] deal is not binding for us when a party is of threat to Turkey, when Turkey’s security is at stake,” Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said on Thursday.Davutoğlu continued with Ankara’s denunciation of the YPG, the militia of the Kurdistan Democratic Union Party (PYD):

For us, the YPG is a terror organization just like Deash [the Islamic State] and [Jabhat] al-Nusra. The deal did not designate the YPG as a terrorist organization….. When Turkey’s security is at stake, Turkey will not get permission from or ask permission from anyone. We will do what is necessary because from that moment onwards, it will not be a Syrian issue but an issue for Turkey.The Turkish Government maintains that the PYD and YPG are led by the Turkish Kurdish insurgency PKK, which has waged an armed campaign for more than 30 years.President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Wednesday, “The PYD and the YPG need to be out of the scope of the cease-fire, just like [the Islamic State] is.”