Türkiye summons US envoy over top military official's visit to Kurdish-controlled city in Syria

Click to read the article in Turkish

The Foreign Ministry today (March 6) summoned the US ambassador to Türkiye, Jeff Flake, over the US chief of general staff's visit to northeastern Syria.

On Saturday, Mark Miley visited a US base in the country's Kurdish-controlled parts on his first visit to Syria.

Summoning the ambassador, the ministry has asked him for an explanation about the visit.

The Damascus government also condemned Miley's visit, which it said violated its sovereignty.

Ankara considers the People's Protection Units (YPG), the main US partner in Syria, and its affiliates "extensions" of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has waged an armed insurgency for nearly four decades and is deemed a "terrorist" group by Türkiye, the US and the EU.

The Kurdish-led Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, which Türkiye calls a "state of terrorism," currently controls about 25 percent of the country, including most of its natural resources and arable land.

Türkiye has carried out four major military operations in Syria's north since 2016, with two of them directly targeting Kurdish-controlled areas. (TY/VK)