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US meets with Syrian Kurds linked to terror group
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THE State Department said Thursday that it has met directly with a Kurdish political party in Syria that is linked to a guerrilla group considered by the U.S. and Turkey as a terrorist organization.
The weekend meeting in Paris with the Kurdish Democratic Union Party, known as the PYD, is likely to further complicate relations between Washington and Ankara. The two countries are negotiating over how much Turkey is willing to contribute to a global coalition that aims to defeat the Islamic State militant group in Syria and Iraq.
The Kurdish group is known as the PYD and is seen as a Syrian affiliate of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK. Both aspire to create an independent nation for ethnic Kurds out of parts of Syria, Iraq, Turkey and Iran.
The PKK has attacked Turkey for decades, and is considered a terrorist organization by Ankara and Washington.
It was the first time U.S. officials have met with the PYD, although the two sides have communicated in the past through intermediaries.
The meeting focused on the fight that Syrian Kurds have given Islamic State militants as they seek to overtake land near Turkey's border.
State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki predicted the two sides would continue to engage, although she said the U.S. is not actively working with the PYD against the Islamic extremists.
The meeting "does not represent coordination — it represents one conversation," Psaki said.
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