- Title: Turkey accuses Germany of supporting militant groups
- Date: 8th November 2016
- Summary: ANKARA, TURKEY (NOVEMBER 8, 2016) (REUTERS) TURKISH FOREIGN MINISTER, MEVLUT CAVUSOGLU, AND BOSNIAN FOREIGN MINISTER, IGOR CRNADAK, ARRIVING FOR NEWS CONFERENCE CAMERAMAN FILMING (SOUNDBITE) (Turkish) TURKISH FOREIGN MINISTER, MEVLUT CAVUSOGLU, SAYING: "The United States say they don't supply weapons to YPG (People's Protection Units). We know they do since Kobani assault. We seized some of these weapons on PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party) militants in Turkey. As a matter of fact, there is no difference between PKK and YPG. Nobody should bother to tell us otherwise. Nobody should try to convince us otherwise. We know the truth. They are using the same camp, same militants. It's the same terrorist group." NEWS CONFERENCE UNDERWAY (SOUNDBITE) (Turkish) TURKISH FOREIGN MINISTER, MEVLUT CAVUSOGLU, SAYING: "Raqqa operation is weeks away from starting. Our military holds talks (with the U.S.) on a prospective strategy. But our policy is to endorse local forces with our special forces, like we did with Free Syrian Army in Euphrates Shield." NEWS CONFERENCE UNDERWAY (SOUNDBITE) (Turkish) TURKISH FOREIGN MINISTER, MEVLUT CAVUSOGLU, SAYING: "The DHKP-C (Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front) and PKK are carrying out activities in Germany. Indeed, we see how they damage German cities when there is a negative development. But they (Germany) support those because they are against Turkey. Why members of FETO (An acronym used by Turkey for Gulenist Terror Organization) are fleeing to Germany? This is not a coincidence either. It is not a coincidence that all terrorist groups prefer to go to Germany. They even welcome members of FETO. Germany is the country that supports terrorist organizations against Turkey the most." NEWS CONFERENCE UNDERWAY (SOUNDBITE) (Turkish) TURKISH FOREIGN MINISTER, MEVLUT CAVUSOGLU, SAYING: "Our European friends must change their perception. They think that they are a first class country, a first class democracy, and that Turkey and others, like Balkan countries are second class. They should change this understanding. I am ready to meet any of my colleagues under any condition but we want them to treat us as equal partners. They must respect us." NEWS CONFERENCE UNDERWAY CAVUSOGLU AND CRNADAK SHAKING HANDS
- Embargoed: 23rd November 2016 10:09
- Keywords: Turkey Germany PKK Syria US YPG Raqqa
- Location: ANKARA, TURKEY
- City: ANKARA, TURKEY
- Country: Turkey
- Topics: Diplomacy/Foreign Policy,Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA00157L39L3
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu accused Berlin on Tuesday (November 8) of allowing the Kurdish militant PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party) and far-leftist DHKP-C, both of which have carried out armed attacks in Turkey, to operate on German soil with impunity.
"The DHKP-C (Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front) and PKK are carrying out activities in Germany. Indeed, we see how they damage German cities when there is a negative development. But they (Germany) support those because they are against Turkey," Yildirim said.
"They think that they are a first class country, a first class democracy, and that Turkey and others, like Balkan countries are second class. They should change this understanding," he added.
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier criticized Turkey's arrest of Kurdish opposition leaders on Friday (November 4), saying Ankara had a right to fight terrorism but could not use it to justify gagging opponents.
Speaking at a news conference in Ankara, Cavusoglu also said Turkey wants to ensure that the "wrong groups" do not take part in the operation to push Islamic State from the Syrian city of Raqqa.
"Raqqa operation is weeks away from starting. Our military holds talks (with the U.S.) on a prospective strategy. But our policy is to endorse local forces with our special forces, like we did with Free Syrian Army in Euphrates Shield," he said.
The operation by the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which includes the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia and some Arab groups, began on Saturday (November 5) and aims to encircle and ultimately capture Raqqa. It should add to the pressure on IS as it faces a major assault on its Iraqi bastion of Mosul.
Planning for the Raqqa assault has been complicated by factors including the concerns of neighboring Turkey, which does not want to see any further expansion of Kurdish influence in northern Syria.
Additionally, Raqqa is a predominantly Arab city, and Syrian Kurdish officials have previously said it should be freed from IS by Syrian Arab groups, not the Kurdish YPG.
Turkey regards People's Protection Units (YPG) and it's political wing PYD (Democratic Union Party) as extensions of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), a separatist group that has waged a three-decade insurgency to push for Kurdish autonomy in southeastern Turkey.
It is listed as a terrorist organization by the United States and European Union.
The PYD party and YPG militia in Syria, and the PKK in Turkey, deny that they share direct military or political links, but they are members of a larger alliance of Kurdish groups that promotes the ideology of PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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