Defense Minister Fikri Işık held a closed-door meeting with U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis prior to the NATO Defense Ministers Meeting in Brussels. (AA Photo)
Daily Sabah with Anadolu Agency: US support for YPG temporary and triggered by necessity, Mattis tells Turkish counterpart Işık
The U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis told his Turkish counterpart Fikri Işık in a meeting in Brussels on Wednesday that their support for and cooperation with the PKK's Syrian affiliate the People's Protection Units (YPG) militia was out of necessity and only temporary.
Mattis called arming the YPG "an interim situation triggered by necessity rather than preference," said a source, who asked not to be named due to restrictions on speaking to the media.
Işık raised Turkey's concerns over the U.S.' support to the PYD/YPG in Syria in his meeting with Mattis, and also discussed Mattis' recent letter to Turkey regarding arming the YPG to fight Daesh, as well as the U.S.' pledge to take back the weapons once their joint operation is over, the source added.
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Update: Turkish, US defence ministers meet in Brussels (TRT)
WNU Editor: The Turks are worried about this .... Pentagon: U.S. will support Kurdish militia after Raqqa fighting (UPI), and they do not believe in U.S. reassurances that they will take back these weapons from the Kurds when the fighting is over .... Erdogan dismisses pledges over weapons for Kurds in Syria (Reuters). The problem is that U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis was correct when he told his Turkish counterpart Fikri Işık that arming the YPG was "an interim situation triggered by necessity rather than preference." My prediction .... in the eyes of Turkish President Erdogan he sees these Kurdish groups as an existential threat to the unity of Turkey .... he is going to move against these Syrian Kurdish forces once the war against the Islamic State comes to an close.
Update: This is Turkey's fear .... Kurds see chance to advance their cause in ruins of Islamic State (Martin Chulov, The Guardian).
