Blackmoon
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Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu has implied that Turkey will take action after the capture of the town of Azez in Syria, a strategic corridor between Aleppo and Turkey for rebel groups, by Syrian regime troops backed by Russian airstrikes.
Speaking to reporters en route to Turkey from the Netherlands, Davutoğlu said that he had told German Chancellor Angela Merkel of the need to stop Russia in Syria in order to prevent further influxes of refugees to Turkey and Europe from the region, the Hürriyet daily reported on Friday. When asked whether Turkey will take action to reopen the corridor to Aleppo, Davutoğlu said, “Wait for the next few days and you will have the answer,” daily Hürriyet reported on Friday.
An offensive by Syrian forces, Hezbollah and Shiite militias directed by Iran and backed by Russian bombing raids has reversed opposition gains on the ground and encircled rebels inside Aleppo. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Thursday that the number of refugees fleeing to Turkish border might reach 600,000 if airs strikes continue.
Davutoğlu also criticized the US for not listing the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) as a terrorist organization. He argued that the People's Protection Units (YPG), the armed wing of the PYD, supplies arms to the terrorist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). “When US Vice President Joe Biden came [to Turkey in late January], we showed him everything on a map for five hours. We shared everything about which routes are used by the YPG to carry weapons to Turkey. We expect [the US to show] sensitivity [about the issue]. We cannot see the YPG as legitimate just because it is fighting against the [Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant] ISIL,” Hürriyet quoted Davutoğlu as saying.
The YPG has been a reliable ally in the fight against the ISIL on the ground and has benefited from the US arms supply on several occasions. Both the US and the EU share Turkey's view of the PKK and see it as a terrorist organization. However, under US law, the PYD is not considered a terrorist group and US officials repeatedly said that their cooperation with the PYD against ISIL will continue.
Davutoğlu signals Turkish action after fall of Aleppo corridor