Turkey to US: end support for Syrian Kurdish YPG or risk confrontation
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ANKARA/BEIRUT - Turkey urged the United States on Thursday to halt its support for Kurdish YPG fighters or risk confronting Turkish forces on the ground in Syria, some of Ankara's strongest comments yet about a potential clash with its NATO ally.
The comments, from the spokesman for President Tayyip Erdogan's government, underscore the growing bilateral tensions, six days after Turkey launched its air and ground operation, "Olive Branch", in Syria's northwestern Afrin region.
Turkey's targeting of the YPG, which it views as a security threat, has opened a new front in Syria's multi-sided civil war.
Any push by Turkish forces towards Manbij, part of a Kurdish-held territory some 100 km (60 miles) east of Afrin, could threaten US plans to stabilise northeast Syria and bring them into direct confrontation with US troops deployed there.
"Those who support the terrorist organisation will become a target in this battle," Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag said.
"The United States needs to review its solders and elements giving support to terrorists on the ground in such a way as to avoid a confrontation with Turkey," Bozdag, who also acts as the government's spokesman, told broadcaster A Haber.
