Keep PYD out of Syria truce deal: Erdo?an

Syria's Democratic Union Party (PYD) and the People's Protection Units (YPG) should be excluded from a recently declared cessation of hostilities in Syria, just like the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an has said.

"The PYD and the YPG need to be out of the scope of the cease-fire, just like Daesh is," Erdo?an said during a speech to village headmen in Ankara on Feb. 24, using an Arabic acronym for ISIL.

"Everybody should accept that the PYD and the YPG are offshoots of the PKK [outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party]," he said. "Should this organization detonate its bomb somewhere other than Ankara in order to be recognized as a PKK offshoot?"

A U.S.-Russia joint cease-fire deal announced on Feb. 22 is to take effect in Syria on Feb. 27, but the "cessation of hostilities" does not include ISIL and the al-Nusra Front, the main jihadist factions.

The Turkish president also underlined that denying the organizations' status as terror groups, despite Turkey's position on the matter, was incompatible with the "spirit of an alliance."

An ongoing rift occurred between NATO allies Turkey and U.S. over the designation of the PYD and YPG. While Turkey consider them as terrorist organizations, the U.S. sees them an important partner in the fight against ISIL. 

On Feb. 23, President Barack Obama's special envoy to the global counter- ISIL coalition, Envoy Brett McGurk, stressed Turkey's important role in the fight against ISIL, stating it was impossible for the United States to "succeed without Turkey," during a White House press briefing.

"We have to work on this closely together. We can't succeed in this without Turkey," McGurk said in response to a remarks questioning...