U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff Joseph Dunford said on Thursday that they would take their alliance with Turkey into consideration, while making plans for military operations against Daesh.
He spoke at a panel in Washington D.C., "Global Threads and USA's National Security Priorities," organized by the Brookings Institute. He emphasized that the U.S. will pay regards to Turkey's sensitiveness, particularly on U.S. cooperation with the PKK's Syrian offshoot, the Democratic Union Party (PYD), and its armed wing, the People's Protection Units (YPG), with the following words: "We will pay attention to the consistency of our military plans against Daesh in continuation of our strong alliance with Turkey, as we talk about the importance of our relations. There is not just a single Kurdish group there [northern Syria], but many others exist. We will discuss all of these issues, however, I'm not the person to decide any changes, and our president will eventually decide."
While the PKK is recognized as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the EU and the U.S., the latter does not recognize the PYD as a terrorist organization despite its strong links with the PKK.
He said they would present Trump with a politico-military strategy that covers the risks and results of the operation in detail rather than a military plan that is only designed to defeat the terrorist organization.
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