Turkish official: US arming Kurds 'unacceptable'
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BEIRUT -- Turkish media are quoting Deputy Prime Minister Nurettin Canikli as saying the US decision to arm Syrian Kurdish fighters viewed as terrorists by Turkey is "unacceptable."
The US said it would provide arms to the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces to help them drive Islamic State militants from the extremists' de facto capital, Raqqa. Turkey says the Syrian Kurdish group known as the YPG, which forms the backbone of the force, is the Syrian branch of the Kurdistan Worker's Party, or PKK, which is waging an insurgency in Turkey.
Hurriyet newspaper quoted Canikli as saying Wednesday: "The United States is providing every kind of aid to the PKK through (Syrian Kurdish forces)."
Canikli expressed hope that Washington would reverse its decision, saying "there is no truth to the claim that the fight against ISIS can only succeed with the (Syrian Kurdish forces)."
