Turkey and the United States have reached "an understanding, not an agreement" over the northern Syrian town of Manbij, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said on Wednesday.
Speaking at a news conference, Çavuşoğlu said Ankara sought an agreement with Washington over who will secure Manbij after the People’s Protection Units (YPG), which Turkey considers a terrorist organisation, withdraws from the area.
Çavuşoğlu said Turkey wanted the understanding with the United States over Manbij, where U.S. troops are stationed, to be a model for all areas controlled by the YPG.
The YPG is the armed wing of the Democratic Union Party (PYD), which is the Syrian offshoot of the PKK. The PKK is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the European Union and the United States.
The U.S. and the coalition have largely ignored the PYD/YPG links to the PKK, which has been conducting armed violence in the southeastern part of Turkey since 1984. More than 40,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in the three-decade long conflict.
