Turkey has warned the United States and Russia that it will not tolerate Kurdish territorial gains by Kurdish militia close to its frontiers in northwestern Syria, two senior officials said.
"This is clear-cut for us and there is no joking about it," one official said of the possibility of Syrian Kurdish militia crossing the Euphrates to extend control along Turkish borders from Iraq's Kurdistan region towards the Mediterranean coast.
Turkey fears advances by Kurdish militia, Kurdish People's Protection Units (
YPG), backed by its political wing, the pro-Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), on the Syrian side of its 900-kilometer (560-mile) border will fuel separatist ambitions among Kurds in its own southeastern territories. But Washington has supported YPG fighters as an effective force in combating Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).
"The PYD has been getting closer with both the United States and Russia of late. We view the PYD as a terrorist group and we want all countries to consider the consequences of their cooperation," one of the Turkish officials said.
Turkey suspects Russia, which launched air strikes in Syria two weeks ago, has also been lending support to the YPG and PYD.
"With support from Russia, the PYD is trying to capture land between Jarablus and Azaz, going west of the Euphrates. We will never accept this," the official said.
He said Turkey had raised its concerns at high-level meetings with the US, European Union and Russia.
Putin: Russia sees Turkey as important partner
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that Turkey is one of Russia's most important partners and that Russia needed to understand how to build relations with Turkey to fight terrorism.
Speaking at an investment conference, Putin said Russia is ready to work with Turkey and that Russia understands Turkey's concerns over Russian operations in Syria.
Noting that Turkey is one of the most important partners of Russia, Putin said: "We have had very developed relations over many years. Look at the construction business. Recently Turkish firms got contracts in Russia worth 12 billion rubles. Turkey has intensified its delivery of agricultural goods to our market, while we mostly deliver energy resources to them."
He said Turkey has concerns over the Kurdish factor [in Syria] and fighting terrorism. While there are contacts between military officials of the two countries, Putin said there is also a need for joint work at a political level.
Regarding Russian intervention in Syria, he said Russia is not striving for leadership over Syria, adding that existing cooperation with Western countries over the Syrian conflict was not enough.
Russia, the United States and Europe should encourage political dialogue between the sides of the Syrian conflict, Putin added.
Iraqi strikes
The Turkish officials did not say what action, if any, Turkey might take if YPG forces crossed the Euphrates. Ankara has carried out air strikes against terrorist Kurdistan Workers Party (
PKK) members based in the mountains of northern Iraq, but attacks on Kurds in Syria would be far riskier, bringing Ankara into possible conflict both with US and Russian air forces.
The YPG said on Monday it had joined forces with Arab rebels and that their new alliance has been promised fresh weapon supplies by the United States for an assault on ISIL forces in what is effectively their capital, Raqqa.
Turkey has accused the Kurdish militia of pursuing "demographic change" in northern Syria by forcibly displacing Turkmen and Arab communities. Ankara fears ultimately the creation of an independent Kurdish state occupying contiguous territories currently belonging to Iraq, Syria and Turkey.
Amnesty International on Tuesday accused the YPG, which has seized swathes of northern Syria from ISIL this year, of committing war crimes by driving out thousands of non-Kurdish civilians and destroying their homes.
Amnesty said its findings were based on visits to 14 towns and villages in the provinces of Hassakeh and Raqqa this summer, areas that are under Kurdish control. It said the abuses amount to war crimes.
The rights group said at least two villages were entirely demolished. In at least eight other villages, the residents were forced to leave, sometimes threatened with being shot or targeted in US air strikes. It said the victims were mainly Arab, but also included Turkmens and other Kurds.
The Kurds, who have emerged as the US-led coalition's most capable partner in Syria against ISIL on the ground, deny such accusations. They say those who left areas they seized did so to escape fighting and are welcome to return.
Over 40,000 people have been killed in clashes between the PKK and the Turkish security forces in Turkey since 1984. The collapse of a cease-fire in July has brought a sharp increase in conflict between security forces and PKK fighters.
Turkey warns US, Russia against backing Kurdish militia in Syria
