After Erdoğan's rebuke, Blinken says PKK responsible for killings of Turkey's security personnel

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Minister of Foreign Affairs Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken had their first phone conversation today (February 15) after the latter assumed office on January 26.

The call came in the wake of the killings of Turkey's 13 security personnel held hostage by the PKK during a military rescue operation in the Gare area in Iraq's Kurdistan region.

"The secretary expressed condolences for the deaths of Turkish hostages in northern Iraq and affirmed our view that PKK terrorists bear responsibility," reads a statement released by the US Department of State after the conversation.

In a previous statement yesterday, the department said it condemned the killings "if reports of the death of Turkish civilians at the hands of the PKK were confirmed."

While senior government officials initially said the killed people were civilians, it later turned out that at least 10 of them were military or police personnel as the Governor's Office of Malatya published their identities.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan today called the first US statement "farcical" and accused Washington of "supporting terrorist groups."

"You were supposedly not on the side of the PKK and YPG, right? You are obviously on its side and behind its back. We have, unfortunately, all seen it from the beginning," he remarked.

During the phone call, Blinken also stressed the importance of "democratic institutions, inclusive governance and respect for human rights," according to the State Department.

He also reiterated the US stance on Turkey's procurement of the S-400 surface-to-air missile system from Russia, urging it not to retain the system.

Meanwhile, Çavuşoğlu expressed discontent with "recent US statements," apparently referring to the statement about the killings in Gare as well as the criticism by the State Department over the prolonged imprisonment of Osman Kavala, a businessperson and a rights defender, and the Boğaziçi University protests.

The situations in Syria and the Eastern Mediterranean were also among the topics addressed by the two ministers. (EKN/VK)