US State Department spokesman Ned Price said that the US ambassador to Turkey went to the Turkish Foreign Ministry for meetings and discussions
A source in the Turkish Foreign Ministry announced that Ankara summoned, today, Monday, the US ambassador to it, Jeff Flake, to express its annoyance at the visit of a senior US army official to northeastern Syria earlier this week.
US State Department spokesman Ned Price said later on Monday that the ambassador went to the Turkish Foreign Ministry for meetings and discussions.
General Mark Milley, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, made a surprise visit on March 4 to follow up on a US mission that was sent nearly 8 years ago to an area controlled by the US-allied Syrian Democratic Forces.
Price told reporters that what the State Department knows is that Miley only met with US forces while he was in Syria, and referred reporters to the Department of Defense for details.
The Syrian Democratic Forces, the main ally of the US-led coalition against ISIS, played a key role in defeating the hardline group in Syria, but US support for the group has caused tension with Turkey for years.
Ankara considers the People’s Protection Units, which leads the Syrian Democratic Forces, the Syrian wing of the outlawed separatist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), and lists them both as terrorist organizations.
The United States and the European Union also classify the PKK as a terrorist group, but they do not include the YPG under the same designation.
