US arming PKK/PYD means it supports terrorists: FM

ANKARA

Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu warned Tuesday that the U.S. would be supporting terrorists if a future Clinton administration supplies arms to the terrorist PKK/PYD in Syria.

If the U.S. armed the PKK/PYD, “the U.S. becomes a country that supports terrorism. Let me caution them. We are speaking as a friend," Cavusoglu told news channel A HABER.

If it armed the PKK/PYD, "it becomes a country that cooperates with terrorists and works with the terrorists,” he added.

Cavusoglu was responding to remarks in Sunday’s presidential debate, in which Democratic candidate and front-runner Hillary Clinton said she would consider arming Kurdish fighters – widely seen as a reference to the armed wing of the PYD, the Syrian offshoot of the PKK, listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S., and the EU.

The PKK has fought a three-decade war against Turkey in which more than 40,000 people have died.

"I would also consider arming the Kurds," Clinton said, when asked how she would deal with Syria. "The Kurds have been our best partners in Syria, as well as Iraq. And I know there’s a lot of concern about that in some circles but I think they should have the equipment they need so that Kurdish and Arab fighters on the ground are the principal way that we take Raqqah after pushing ISIS [Daesh] out of Iraq."

Gulen extradition

Turning to Turkey’s request that the U.S. extradite U.S.-based Fetullah Gulen, leader of the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), Cavusoglu said the U.S. failure to extradite Gulen to date is turning Turkish people against it. He added, however, that Ankara and Washington must have good relations because of their joint efforts on many issues, such as politics and the military.

Turkey issued a formal request in August to Washington to extradite Gulen after FETO attempted to overthrow the government in Ankara through a bloody coup.

Turkey's government says the defeated coup, which left 241 people martyred and nearly 2,200 injured, was organized by followers of Gulen, who has lived in self-imposed exile in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania since 1999, and his FETO network.

"We, as an objective country that knows the facts especially in our region, tell the U.S. its mistakes. We do not talk behind its back. We tell it about its mistakes concerning the YPG and in Iraq. We will also continue to tell it about its mistakes," he added.

Turkey has repeatedly said that arming the PKK/PYD is a source of concern, as the group poses a threat to Turkey.