FM Çavuşoğlu: YPG, Daesh cooperate in Syria

Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu contended on Sunday that the PKK's Syrian offshoot the Democratic Union Party (PYD) and its armed wing the Peoples' Protection Units (YPG) and Daesh cooperate in Syria even though they seem to fight each other.

Speaking to reporters in the German city of Munich while attending the G20 foreign ministers' meeting and the 53rd Munich Conference, Çavuşoğlu said the different groups in Syria collaborate and engage in trade as well, noting: "The YPG and Daesh actually wage a power struggle against each other," he said.

The foreign minister said they are fighting for their own interests, not for the future of Syria: "They have trade and [business], including oil. Everyone knows that already," he said, adding that the Turkish delegation tried to bring this fact to everyone's attention.

Çavuşoğlu asserted that Ankara expects the Trump administration to understand these realities. Former U.S. President Barack Obama refused to lend an ear to Ankara's sensitivity on the YPG issue, siding with the terrorist group on the ground in Syria.

"We must defeat terror groups in Syria. We need to find a better strategy [in defeating terror groups]. We can defeat terror groups by cooperating with better groups on the ground because we must also eradicate the ideology of these terror groups as the ideology has nothing to do with Islam in any way, shape or form," Çavuşoğlu said at the Munich Security Conference in Germany, in a speech titled "Old Crisis, New Middle East."

The minister seemed confident in defeating terrorist groups if appropriate actors are used on the ground. Çavuşoğlu asserted that Daesh could be swept out from Raqqa and from Syria later on.

While Ankara asserts that the PYD is affiliated with the PKK, a designated terrorist organization by the U.S., EU and NATO, the Obama administration did not share Ankara's concern and continued to arm the group. Former CIA chief David Petraeus described the PYD as the cousin of the PKK during the Munich Security Conference on Saturday.

In addition, Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter confirmed the link between the YPG/PYD and the PKK during his testimony before a Senate panel at the U.S. Congress in late April 2016.

The U.S. provided arms to the PYD in October, drawing heavy criticism from Ankara. A total of 50 tons of arms and ammunition reached the PYD in the northern Syrian province of al-Hasakah through U.S. air force drops. The 112 pallets reportedly contained ammunition for M-16s and AK-47s.