MHP leader slams US for supporting YPG

ANKARA

Supplying weapons and giving political support to a terror organization is a crime, the leader of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) has said, slamming the United States for its continued partnership with the YPG in northern Syria.

“The Biden administration should make a decision. Is the U.S. an ally with terrorist organizations or with Turkey? Is the U.S. administration a friend or a foe? Giving weapons and money to terror organizations and training them is a crime,” MHP chair Devlet Bahçeli said at a party event on Oct. 10 in Ankara.

The U.S. has been partnering with the YPG in northern Syria in the fight against ISIL since 2016. Turkey says the YPG is the Syrian offshoot of the PKK, and therefore a terrorist organization.

“Is the U.S. a strategic partner of the PKK?” asked Bahçeli. Despite press reports suggesting that the U.S. is considering withdrawing from Syria, he said, “Do not believe in these lies.”

Bahçeli also slammed the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) by describing it as the political wing of the PKK. “Those who enter the HDP building from the front door exit it with arms through the backdoor. Don’t try to fool us. Partnership with the HDP means partnership with the PKK,” he said, referring to the informal closeness of the Nation Alliance with the HDP for the upcoming elections.

The MHP leader said the closure of the HDP will put the mothers’ minds whose children were killed by the terrorists at ease, in reference to an ongoing case against the HDP at the Constitutional Court. The prosecutor demanded the closure of the party because of its links with the terror organization.