PYD, YPG should be excluded from Syria cease-fire process: 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?"

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."

Twenty-four hours after a suicide bomber targeting military personnel shuttles killed at least 29 people in Ankara, Turkish officials announced that the attacker was a Syrian Kurd and "definitely" a member of the YPG, while Erdo?an said he had "no doubt" about the militant's allegiance. 

An investigation revealed, however, that the bomber was a Turkish citizen named Abdülbaki Sömer who allegedly entered Turkey with a fake Syrian identity card. Meanwhile, the Kurdistan Freedom Hawks (TAK), a smaller outlawed organization that is an offshoot of the PKK, claimed responsibility for the bombing.

During his speech, Erdo?an also touched upon Ankara's ongoing rift with Moscow, after the former's downing of a Russian jet on Nov. 24, 2015, for allegedly violating its airspace. 

Erdo?an claimed Russia was continuing to violate Turkish airspace.In...