MESOP OFFICIAL STATEMENTS : DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF PRESS & INFORMATION / ANKARA

PM YILDIRIM: “WE HAVE 3 PROBLEMS WITH US” – Date : 03.04.2017 –  Source : Vatan

Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım answered the questions of Erhan Çelik during an interview aired on TRT Haber news network.

“Turkey and the US have three problems that need to be fixed”

Referring to the fight against terrorism, Prime Minister Yıldırım said: “Turkey and the US have three problems that need to be fixed. The first one is July 15 coup attempt and FETO. We ask them to support Turkey regarding that. It is not realistic to expect our relations to develop in the strict sense as long as the FETO ringleader is there. The second is the fight against DAESH in Syria. The US wants and tries to conduct operations against DAESH in Raqqa with the organizations like YPG and PYD, which Turkey recognizes as terrorist organizations. We disapprove such operations with these organizations in Raqqa. We say that this will harm Turkish-US strategic partnership. The third is that there is loss of confidence among Turkish people against the US after the coup attempt of July 15. We need steps to reverse this loss of confidence.”

“Half of the arms sent to fight against DAESH go to PKK”

Speaking about the fight against DAESH, Yıldırım said: “You send heavy weapons to fight against DAESH. We are okay with that but half of those arms go to PKK. PKK hits our security forces. A friendly nation should not be doing that.”