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Erdogan dismisses pledges over weapons for Kurds in Syria

Erdogan dismisses pledges over weapons for Kurds in Syria

June 25, 2017 | 06:01 PM
Turkey's President Erdogan talks to media after the Eid al-Fitr prayers in Istanbul

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan dismissed on Sunday as a trick a reported US promise that weapons supplied to the Kurdish YPG militia in northern Syria would be returned after the defeat of Islamic State.

"The ones who think they are tricking Turkey by saying they are going to get back the weapons that are being given to this terrorist organisation will realise that they are making a mistake eventually," Erdogan said in a speech in Istanbul.He said Ankara would hold to account any party which supplied arms to the YPG if "any bullet is fired into Turkey".Ankara considers the YPG an extension of the outlawed Kurdish PKK, which has waged an insurgency in southeastern Turkey since the 1980s.

June 25, 2017 | 06:01 PM