McCain: Obama's Syria approach caused 'disaster on Turkey's doorstep'

On Friday, Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said, "The Obama administration's reckless approach contributed a strategic disaster on Turkey's doorstep," referring to Turkey's southern border with Syria.

McCain released the statement on his website and his personal Twitter account yesterday. "I have long argued that the Obama administration's reckless approach to Syria has contributed to a strategic disaster on Turkey's doorstep," McCain said.

McCain also criticized Operation Euphrates Shield, launched by the Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army, to clear northern Syria of terrorist organizations, including Daesh and PKK's Syrian offshoot, the Democratic Union Party (PYD).

The Republican senator also claimed that their continued cooperation with the PYD "serves the national security interests of both the United States and countries in the region, including Turkey," and urged the Turkish government to refrain from further attacks against Kurdish groups in Syria.

The PYD has been known for its acts of oppression in northern Syria for a long time. A report published by the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) in January said the PYD has committed multiple human rights violations since the withdrawal of government forces in 2012, including ethnic cleansing and the abuse of women, children and media workers.

Despite the PYD's previously mentioned acts, the U.S. administration has long supported it. At a Senate panel in the U.S. Congress in April, Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter made a puzzling statement about the PYD after asked by Sen. Lindsey Graham whether the PYD and the People's Protection Units (YPG) are aligned with the PKK terrorist organization. Carter admitted the link between the PKK and the PYD and acknowledged that the PKK is a U.S. designated terrorist group; however, he refused to call the PYD a terrorist organization. U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby also said in March that the U.S. does not consider the PYD or its armed wing, the YPG, to be terrorist organizations.