Turkey claims Trump promised to stop supplying weapons to Kurdish YPG

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan 24) - Turkish foreign minister claimed on Friday that US President Donald Trump has told Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan that supplying weapons to Kurdish YPG group in Syria will be stopped.

Trump and Erdogan spoke on the phone earlier on Friday and discussed recent developments in Syria, bilateral ties and a summit in Russia’s Sochi, sources in Erdogan’s office said.

“Our discomfort regarding the provision of weapons to the YPG was conveyed to Mr Trump once again... Trump very clearly said he had given instructions to not provide weapons to the YPG,” Mevlut Cavusoglu told a news conference in Ankara.

“We welcome the promise of not providing weapons to the YPG, and want to see it implemented practically.”

Erdogan also tweeted: “I had a fruitful phone conversation with the U.S. President Donald Trump today."

Kurdish group has been successfully battling the Islamic State (IS) which took over Syria in 2014 and Washington sees Kurds as the most reliable allies in defeating IS.

Turkey argues the YPG is the Syrian offshoot of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) which has been waging a decades-long guerrilla warfare against Turkish troops for larger Kurdish rights.

Continued US support for the YPG and the emergence of a second Kurdish-ruled region in the Middle East after the Kurdistan Region have alienated Turkey from its NATO ally.

Fearful of similar demands by Kurds at home, Turkey has repeatedly called on the US to cease backing the YPG.

At a summit in the southern Russian city of Sochi on Wednesday, Russia’s Vladimir Putin won the backing of Turkey and Iran to host a Syrian peace congress, taking the central role in a major diplomatic push to finally end a civil war all but won by Moscow’s ally, President Bashar al-Assad.