Turkey summons US envoy over top general's Syria visit

Army General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, made the unannounced visit on March 4 to review a nearly eight-year-old US mission to an area controlled by the US-allied Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

 

The SDF, the primary ally of the US-led coalition against Islamic State, played a key role in defeating Islamic State jihadists across Syria, but US support for the group has been a source of tension with Turkey for years.

Turkey sees the People's Protection Units (YPG), the spearhead of the SDF, as the Syrian wing of the outlawed separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and considers both as terrorist organizations.

 

The United States and the European Union have also designated the PKK as a terrorist group, but not the YPG.