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Erdgoan, Mattis Discuss Kurds, Syria and Iraq

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan meets with US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis at the Presidential Palace  in Ankara on August 23.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan meets with US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis at the Presidential Palace  in Ankara on August 23.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday told US Secretary of Defense James Mattis that Turkey felt unease over US support for Kurdish militant group YPG, presidential sources said.

In a statement following meetings between Mattis and Turkish officials, the sources said the two sides emphasized the importance of maintaining the territorial integrity of Syria and Iraq, as Kurdish northern Iraq gears up for an independence referendum in September, Reuters reported.

Both Turkey and the United States have voiced concerns over the referendum, with the former’s foreign minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, saying earlier on Wednesday he would ask Iraqi Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani to cancel it.

According to Daily Sabah, other issues discussed during the meeting were US support to the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), Turkey’s possible military operation against the YPG in Syria, the ongoing fight against IS, the Kurdistan Regional Government’s upcoming independence referendum and Turkey’s possible procurement of Russian S-400 missile system.

Mattis also met his Turkish counterpart Nurettin Canikli on Wednesday.

 

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