(AhlulBayt News Agency) - Russia has slammed US actions in Syria that “encourage separatist sentiments among Kurds” as either a provocation or ill-informed after Turkey launched a major operation against US-backed militants in the Arab country.
"Washington has actively encouraged and continues to encourage separatist sentiments among Kurds," Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday.
"This is either a lack of understanding of the situation or an absolutely conscious provocation," he added.
Turkey launched the so-called Operation Olive Branch on Saturday in a bid to eliminate the US-backed YPG, which Ankara views as a terror organization and the Syrian branch of the outlawed Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK). The latter has been fighting for an autonomous region inside Turkey since 1984.
The operation was launched days after Washington said it would work with the Kurdish militants to set up a 30,000-strong border force near Turkish soil, a move that infuriated Ankara.
The YPG is operating under the larger US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) militants without authorization from Damascus, which calls the force “traitors” to the Syrian nation.
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source : PressTV
Monday
22 January 2018
11:54:57 AM
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"Washington has actively encouraged and continues to encourage separatist sentiments among Kurds," Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday.