This Article is From Aug 25, 2016

Turkey Must Control Its Own Border, Says US Vice President Joe

Turkey Must Control Its Own Border, Says US Vice President Joe

Joe Biden said Syria must be whole and united, and not carved into pieces.

Ankara, Turkey: The United States strongly believes that Turkey's border must be controlled by Turkey, and there should be no occupation by any other group, US Vice President Joe Biden said on Wednesday.

Biden, who was speaking at a joint news conference with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara, also said the US military has been providing air cover for Turkey's operation in northern Syria.

Biden said Syria must be whole and united, and not carved into pieces. Differences on Syria policy have been a difficulty for US-Turkey relations. The United States backs the Syrian Kurdish YPG in the fight against ISIS in Syria.

Turkey sees that group as an extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has carried out a three-decade insurgency in Turkey's largely Kurdish southeast.

 
© Thomson Reuters 2016
.