Turkish President harshly rebuked the US' continuing support for PKK/PYD in Syria, adding the US Vice President said he wasn't aware that weapons were airdropped to PKK/PYD
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has harshly rebuked the United States for continuing to cooperate with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK)-affiliated Democratic Union Party (PYD) terrorists in Syria against Daesh, adding that US' Vice President Joe Biden said he wasn't aware of the fact that two aircraft belonging to the U.S. army last week airdropped weapons to the PKK/PYD.
“I said to Mr. Biden yesterday: 'are you aware of this?' He said, 'No.' I said, 'Well, I am,'" said Erdoğan, slamming the U.S. for continued assistance to PKK/PYD terrorist organization in the fight against Daesh.
Erdoğan's remarks came at an event organized by the Turkish American Cultural Society (TACS) in New York.
“You can't finish off Daesh with PYD/YPG, because they themselves are terrorists. Can there be good and bad terrorists? All of them are terrorists and all of them are bad," he added.
"To be successful, the cooperation between Turkey and the United States is crucial. I told them many, many times: 'Let's join forces and we can finish off this Daesh,'" he said. “It (Daesh) would be looking for a place to hide," Erdoğan said.
Erdoğan also said that Turkey aims to open up a safe zone in northern Syria as part of Operation Euphrates Shield.
"Here is our goal: We want to declare a safe zone that is 95 by 45 kilometers, or 4,000-5,000 square kilometers," Erdoğan said.
Erdoğan was furious about a U.S. congressional committee that invited a Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETÖ) member to speak about the defeated coup.
“How in the world can you do something like this? They have lost their political will to a point where they are willing to listen to a coup plotter rather than a coup victim about the coup," he criticized.
“Can you possibly imagine listening to terrorists about a night when a coup was targeted at democracy?" he rebuked. “We expect sincerity and effort from the American administration," Erdoğan added.
Erdoğan also called on representatives of Turkish NGOs he was addressing to “tell the truth everywhere, in every capacity. “We need to convince the American public," he explained.
Erdoğan, speaking at another NGO meeting later in the day, said the FETÖ network is trying to open a foothold for itself in the U.S. by “indirectly transferring the money it got from the American [governmental] budget back into the American politics."
“We are sure that American authorities are aware about how this crooked system works," Erdoğan added.
Turkey's Erdoğan, during his visit to New York, met Greece's Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras. The two agreed to cooperate against the eight soldiers, who escaped to Greece for fear of being caught in Turkey after the coup plot that they orchestrated on July 15 failed.
Erdoğan and Tsipras also expressed their consensus in taking more steps to cover Cyprus talks.
