Ankara denounces US-PKK joint exercise in Syria

ANKARA

Turkish Defense Ministry officials have strongly criticized the joint exercise conducted by the United States and the terrorist organization PKK/YPG in Syria, daily Hürriyet has reported.

"The U.S. continues to support the PKK/YPG terrorist organization under the pretext of fighting ISIL. A terrorist organization cannot be fought by using another terrorist organization," the ministry's sources told the daily.

The exercise was held in Syria's northeastern Qamishli city from Aug. 15 to 17, according to the officials.

"Our expectation from friendly and allied countries is to stop aid and support to the PKK/YPG terrorist organization and give sincere support to our fight against terrorism," they said.

The sources also addressed a recent incident involving a confrontation between United Nations peacekeepers and Turkish Cypriot security forces that erupted during the initiation of the Pyla road project, aimed at connecting the ethnically mixed Pyla village in the buffer zone with the mainland.

Reports indicate that soldiers attempted to impede road construction using barbed wire and concrete barriers, resulting in multiple injuries. Three U.N. soldiers and eight Turkish policemen were reportedly injured during the clash.

"The peacekeeping force's intervention on the Pyla road despite not saying anything to the Greek Cypriot road is against the U.N.'s principle of neutrality. We strongly condemn this," the sources remarked. "The [Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus] TRNC will decide whether the construction of the road will continue or not."

In a separate update, the ministry revealed that over the past week, 40 terrorists had been neutralized, bringing the total number of terrorists neutralized to 1,102 since the start of the year.

It further disclosed that Türkiye's operation areas in Syria have witnessed 93 instances of harassment and attacks by the PKK. In response, security forces have neutralized 809 terrorists, with 32 of them being neutralized in the past week alone.