Media: the United States received a notice from Turkey an hour before operation in Syria and Iraq
MOSCOW, 26 APR — RIA Novosti. The United States received notification from the Turkish military one hour before the beginning of their operations against Kurdish rebels in Iraq and Syria, reports CNN, citing a senior official in the defense sphere.
Earlier, the representative of US state Department mark Toner said the concerns over the application of Turkey’s strikes in the North of Syria and Iraq. He stressed that they were made “without coordination with the United States” and with the coalition against terrorist group “Islamic state.”* Later, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in an interview with the Reuters news Agency that he had informed the partners, including Russia, the US and the Northern Iraqi Kurdistan prior to the operation.
According to the source channel, the U.S. advisors and the international coalition were not near the areas of operation.
“These strikes were not approved by the coalition to combat ISIS* and led to losses among the forces who are our partners in the fight against ISIS, including Kurdish forces “Peshmerga,” said Pentagon spokesman Adrian Rankin-Galloway.
The General staff of the Turkish armed forces announced on Tuesday the death toll at about 70 members of the Kurdish forces during air strikes on positions of self-defense forces of the Kurds in the northeast of Syria and the country banned the Kurdistan workers ‘ party (PKK) in Northern Iraq.
Ankara considers YPG a terrorist organization affiliated with the PKK. In this regard, Turkey has repeatedly criticized the United States for arms supplies to Syrian Kurds, which Washington considers its allies in the fight against the terrorist group ISIS*.
After the resumption in Turkey in July 2015 the armed conflict with the PKK in attacks by Kurdish rebels killed about 900 military and police officers and over 300 civilians. According to the Ministry of defence of Turkey, during this period, security forces neutralized more than 10 thousand members of the PKK.
*A terrorist organization banned in Russia.