Turkey ‘Appalled’ US Backed Deal on ISIS Withdrawal From Raqqa

Accuses Kurdish 'Terrorists' of Cooperating With ISIS

Turkey’s Foreign Ministry has issued a statement today saying they are “appalled” that the United States allowed the Kurdish YPG to negotiate and implement a deal to evacuate ISIS fighters from the city of Raqqa.

Reports suggest some 4,000 ISIS fighters were evacuated from Raqqa as part of the deal, spreading fighters across Syria, and some of them escaped into Turkey, and presumably elsewhere abroad.

Turkey was never happy with the US backing the YPG in the first place, on account of them being Kurds. They have presented this as vindication for their warnings that the US would regret supporting “Kurdish terrorists.”

The statement said the deal amounted to Kurdish terrorists cooperating with ISIS to protect them from being wiped out in the battle for Raqqa, and said it was particularly outrageous that the US had supported the plan.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.