by Burak Akinci
ANKARA, Dec. 4 (Xinhua) -- Turkey is cautiously pleased on the United States pledge to stop arming Syrian Kurdish fighters, that Washington has viewed as a key player against the Islamic State (IS), an issue that has been a major source of tension between the two countries.
With anti-IS operations in Syria coming to an end, the U.S. will focus on holding territory instead of arming the Syrian Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Friday.
Turkey considers the Democratic Union Party (PYD) and its armed wing, the YPG, to be the Syrian affiliates of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), a terrorist organization listed by Turkey, the U.S. and the EU. However, the U.S. has supported the PKK and the PYD as its ally on the ground in combating IS in Syria.
MATTIS MAKES CLEAR: U.S. TO STOP ARMING YPG
"The YPG is armed, and as the coalition stops offensive (operations), then obviously you don't need that," Mattis said. "You need security, you need police forces, that's local forces, that's people who make certain that IS doesn't come back."
Mattis did not say if there had already been halt to weapons transfer.
Last week, in a phone call between U.S. President Donald Trump and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the former reportedly said Washington will stop supplying weapons to the YPG. Trump promised to stop the "nonsense" of arming Syrian Kurds, according to Turkish officials.
But after this pledge, the Pentagon officials immediately announced that the U.S. will go on cooperating with this militia, profoundly confusing minds in Ankara.
Washington's military support for the YPG has been a major source of tension between the U.S. and Turkey. The main concern is that weapons supplied to the YPG will end up in PKK hands in Turkey.
"US MOVE COMES LATE"
"It is a satisfactory move that comes late. From the outset we said to our American interlocutors that you cannot combat a terrorist organization (IS) with supplying arms to another terrorist movement (YPG)," told a Turkish government source to Xinhua.
"We need to monitor very closely what will happen on the ground. The U.S. has already shipped tens of thousands tons of military material to YPG. We have to make sure that these arms do not continue to fall into the hands of the PKK," explained this source on the condition of anonymity.
Less than 24 hours before the Pentagon's chief statement on the Syrian Kurdish militia, Erdogan's spokesman Ibrahim Kalin told reporters that "any kind of support given to the YPG is a support given directly or indirectly to the PKK and constitutes a threat to Turkey's national security."
Experts think that the U.S. pledges towards Syrian Kurd militia is somewhat aimed at calming the Turkish ally's nerves.
ANKARA DAZED AND CONFUSED
"There was a deep deception in Ankara after confusing statements from the U.S administration," Serkan Demirtas, Hurriyet Daily News Ankara representative told Xinhua.
This expert on international affairs argued that the statement made by the U.S. defense secretary asked more questions than it answered.
With the poor record-keeping to track weapons supplies, denounced in May by Amnesty International, getting weapons returned to the U.S. from the YPG, will be easier than done, added Demirtas.
Experts believe that the heavy weapons will be easier to recollect but that lighter weapons will stay in Syria. The U.S. will also leave civilian construction vehicles, such as cranes, bulldozers and trucks in the region to help locals with reconstruction.
Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu recently announced in parliament that Turkish security forces tracked at least 4,000 truck loads of weaponry shipment to Syrian Kurds.
Meanwhile on the ground, the YPG militia said on Sunday it had fully captured Deir al-Zor's Province (bordering Iraq) eastern countryside from the IS with the help of both the U.S.-led coalition and Russia, a military victory that puts even more pressure on Turkey efforts to break international support to the Kurdish fighters.
Since the start of Syria's conflict in 2011, the YPG and its allies have carved an autonomous regions in the north, controlling nearly a quarter of Syria.
Since November a small group of Turkish soldiers have established several observations spots inside the northwestern Idlip Province of Syria and avoided serious clashes with the Kurdish forces.
However, Turkish President Erdogan has repeatedly threatened to launch a full scale offensive against the Afrin region, a strategically sensitive area in Turkish eyes.
