Turkey on Thursday bitterly questioned the White House’s account of a telephone call between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his US counterpart Donald Trump on Syria, saying it did not “accurately reflect” the conversation.
After Trump and Erdogan spoke late on Wednesday, the White House said Trump had urged Erdogan to limit an assault by Turkish troops against a Kurdish militia in northern Syria dubbed Olive Branch.
Turkey launched an offensive against the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) militia on Saturday in their enclave of Afrin, supporting Ankara-backed militants based in Syria with air strikes and ground troops.
According to a White House statement, Trump urged Turkey “to de-escalate, limit its military actions” and “exercise caution”.
But Turkish official sources said the US statement “does not accurately reflect the content” of the call, adding that Trump did not share any concerns regarding “escalating violence”.
“The two leaders’ discussion… was limited to an exchange of views,” said a Turkish official, who asked not to be named.
Ankara views the YPG as a terror group linked to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) inside Turkey. The PKK is blacklisted by Ankara and its Western allies.
But Washington is still working closely with YPG, in efforts allegedly aimed against ISIL Takfiri group, in defiance of Turkey’s warnings.
In response to Erdogan’s call on the US to stop supplying weapons to the YPG, Trump said that “his country no longer supplied the group… and pledged not to resume” weapons delivery, the official said.
The YPG also holds the key town of Manbij east of Afrin and Erdogan on Wednesday raised the prospect of an operation on Manbij, where there is a US military presence.
“The US president touched upon the necessity of limiting the duration of Operation Olive Branch and, keeping in mind the presence of a small number of US troops in Manbij, the need to prevent a hot conflict in the area,” the Turkish official added.
Washington has more than 2,000 special forces and support troops inside Syria.
Trump also expressed concern about “the destructive and false” anti-American rhetoric emanating from Turkey, the White House said.
But the official said Trump “did not use the phrase ‘destructive and false rhetoric coming from Turkey’.”
“He mentioned that open criticism of the United States raised concerns in Washington,” said the official.
Source: AFP
