Turkey urges USA to stop deploying Kurds in Syrian Afrin

Turkey expects that the USA stops deploying Kurdish militants from Manbij to Afrin, Turkish president’s spokesman Ibrahim Kalin has announced on March 7, Al Jazeera reports.

According to him, deployment of YPG militants to north-western Syria is being held under control of the US military in the region.

“Turkey will undertake necessary measures in this connection,” Kalin said without specifying what the steps are.

On March 1, Turkish officials accused the US administration in pursuing a double-standard policy when it concerns identifying terrorist groups in Syria. Speaking last Thursday to journalists in Ankara, Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag reiterated position of his government according to which “terrorists are the same everywhere, one cannot divide them into bad and good ones.” As Bozdag said, the US behavior is the same and is guided by double standards, which is inadmissible.

To remind, on January 20, the Turkish Armed Forces General Staff announced launch of the Olive Branch Operation saying its aim was to protect Turkish borders, secure safety and stability in the region. The official Ankara says all military and political institutions of Syrian Kurds are terrorist organizations and urges the USA to curtail the relations with them.