WarSclerotic

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu speaks with an official as he arrives for a security meeting at the Governor’s Office in Ankara, Feb. 20, 2016. (Photo: AP, Burhan Özbilici)

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu on Saturday called on the United States to give unconditional support in the fight against Syrian Kurdish militants, illustrating growing tension between Ankara and Washington over policy in northern Syria.

Davutoğlu also said Turkey would tighten security across the country, especially the capital, after a car laden with explosives was detonated near military buses in Ankara on Wednesday, killing 28 people.

Turkey says the Syrian Kurdish YPG, which the United States is backing in the fight against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Syria, was involved in the bombing, working with the terrorist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

Washington, which does not consider the YPG a terrorist organisation, has said it is not in a position to confirm or deny Ankara’s charge the militia was behind the bombing.

“The only thing we expect from our US ally is to support Turkey with no ifs or buts,” Davutoğlu told a news conference following a five-hour security meeting with members of his cabinet and other officials.

“If 28 Turkish lives have been claimed through a terrorist attack we can only expect them to say any threat against Turkey is a threat against them.”

The disagreement over the YPG risks driving a wedge between the NATO allies at a critical point in Syria’s civil war, as the United States pursues intensive talks with Syrian ally Russia to bring about a “cessation of hostilities”.

The Kurdistan Freedom Hawks (TAK), a group that once had links to the PKK, on Friday claimed responsibility for the bombing. However, Davutoğlu said that did not rule out the responsibility of the YPG, calling the TAK a “proxy” that claimed the bombing to shield the international reputation of the Syrian Kurdish fighters.

US President Barack Obama on Friday spoke to Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan in an 80-minute telephone call, sharing his concerns over the Syrian conflict and promising his support.

On Friday, a State Department spokesman told reporters Washington would continue to support organisations in Syria that it could count on in the fight against Islamic State – an apparent reference to the YPG.

Also on Saturday, Erdoğan’s spokesperson İbrahim Kalın said the US administration cannot see the whole picture on Syria. “… But the US administration has a dilemma. If you build your fight against Daesh on supporting YPG, you lose the whole picture. The fight against Daesh is continuing now, so does the one against Assad regime. Apart from all these, we have Russia’s huge military concentration in this region. If you disregard all relations and connections among these and only say ‘I will send weapons to the YPG so that they can do this’ , you cannot get the whole strategic picture,” Kalın said in televised remarks, using Daesh as an acronym for ISIL.