President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has slammed the United States for holding joint military patrols with the People’s Protection Units (YPG) along the Turkish border in northern Syria, expressing his belief that Washington would soon correct this mistake, the Hürriyet Daily News reported.
“This is not an acceptable thing. This can cause serious negative developments on the border. I believe Mr. Trump will stop this,” Erdoğan told reporters at Parliament on Tuesday.
Erdoğan and US President Donald Trump are scheduled to meet at the Paris Peace Forum next week.
US troops in the east of Syria launched a joint patrol mission with the YPG on the Turkish border after the Turkish army hit YPG positions east of the Euphrates.
Turkey considers the YPG, a Kurdish militia in northern Syria, to be the offshoot of the terrorist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
The US has allied with the YPG despite its NATO ally’s concerns, believing the group to be the best local force to fight the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Syria.
Erdoğan also said on Tuesday that he doesn’t find the US sanctions against Iran to be right.
“These sanctions aim to destroy the balance in the world, we don’t want to live in an imperialist world,” he said.