Ecuador's President Rafael Correa, right,
talks with Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as they meet
in Quito, Ecuador, Thursday, Feb. 4, 2016
Turkey's president lashed out at the
United States a week after President Barack Obama's envoy
visited a northern Syrian town that is under the control of
Syrian Kurdish forces, which Ankara considers terrorists.
In comments published Sunday,
President
Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Washington should choose between
Turkey and the Kurdish Democratic Union Party, or PYD, as
its partner.
That came after envoy Brett McGurk's
visit to Kobani, where the PYD's military wing, aided by
U.S.-led airstrikes, drove back Islamic State militants a year
ago. Turkey considers the PYD a terrorist group because of its
affiliation with Turkey's outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party, or
PKK.
Erdogan said: "How can we trust you?
Is it me that is your partner or is it the terrorists in
Kobani?"
In Washington, a
State Department spokesman reiterated the longstanding U.S.
policy that considers the PKK "to be a terrorist organization."
"We continue to call on the PKK to
immediately cease its campaign of violence. A resumed political
process offers the best hope for greater civil rights, security,
and prosperity for all the citizens of Turkey," said Noel Clay
of the State Department.
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/erdogan-us-choose-turkey-kurdish-forces-36770257