Recep Tayyip Erdoğan made the remarks in an address to lawmakers of his Justice and Development (AK) Party at parliament in the capital Ankara. On Monday Erdoğan held a phone call with US President Donald Trump, discussing the idea of a terror-free safe zone in northern Syria. Erdoğan said he told Trump that Turkey embraces all people in Syria without any discrimination.
“We also told him that the PKK/YPG tortures the groups in Syria that do not depend on them. We also said that we have given all document on this issue to his advisers,” Erdoğan said. He added that the two presidents agreed to increase the Turkish-US trade volume to $75 billion.
The phone call came after Trump threatened to “devastate Turkey economically if they hit Kurds,” conflating “Kurds” with the terrorist PKK/YPG, a conflation that Turkey has repeatedly criticized.
“YOU SHOULD NOT BE DECEIVED BY THIS GAME”
Erdoğan also called on Kurds not to be fooled by terror groups, adding: “I call on my Kurdish brothers. You should not be deceived by this game… Turkey is the country of my Kurdish brothers as well.”
Following the surprise announcement in December that US forces would leave Syria, US officials said the withdrawal was conditional on Turkey not attacking the “Kurds,” meaning the terrorist PKK/YPG.
Turkish officials blasted the US conflation of “Kurds” with the terror group, saying an expected Turkish operation in Syria will target a terrorist group which threatens Arabs, Turkmens, and Kurds in Syria alike.