Turkish PM slams Clinton on arming the Kurds

ANKARA, Turkey (Kurdistan24) – Turkey’s Prime Minister Binali Yildirim on Tuesday questioned the US Democratic Party Presidential Nominee Hillary Clinton’s plans on arming Kurds in the fight against the Islamic State (IS).

Yildirim was speaking at a weekly parliament meeting of his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) in the Turkish Assembly in Ankara.

“Now that the elections are near in the US, the Democrats’ nominee Hillary Clinton said she would support the Kurds, the terror groups in the region by giving out weapons. Isn’t the US our ally,” asked the Turkish PM.

Kurdish Peshmerga troops in Iraq and People’s Protection Units (YPG) in Syria have proven to be the most reliable and effective US allies in the war against IS.

“What does supporting [the Kurds] with weapons mean? [The US] has already been fighting the so-called [IS] by giving weapons to PKK’s offshoot PYD/YPG,” Yildirim said in a rebuke to the US support of Kurds fighting IS in Syrian Kurdistan (Rojava).

“Where in the world is it okay to fight a terror group with backing another one? How right, ethical and moral is that?” He questioned.

PM Yildirim’s remarks are the first reaction by the Turkish administration to Clinton’s Kurdish policy, adding his country’s concerns were “turning out to be right.”

Clinton has said, in the first two presidential debates with her Republican rival Donald Trump, if elected, she would support and arm the Kurds in the fight against IS.

In the aftermath of IS’ rise, Turkey is fearful of the prospects of a second autonomous Kurdish region (Rojava) alongside its southern border in Syria after the Kurdistan Region in Iraq.

The Turkish government is afraid this might trigger a similar event in dozens of Kurdish provinces within its borders.

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany