Syrian Kurds demonstrate against Turkish army oppression in the Turkish southeastern town of Cizre on Monday. Picture: AFP PHOTO/DELIL SOULEIMAN
Syrian Kurds demonstrate against Turkish army oppression in the Turkish southeastern town of Cizre on Monday. Picture: AFP PHOTO/DELIL SOULEIMAN

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ISTANBUL — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan upbraided the US for its support of Syrian Kurdish rebels on Tuesday, saying Washington’s inability to understand the group’s true nature had turned the region into a "sea of blood".

Mr Erdogan’s comments, a day after Turkey summoned the US ambassador over the Syrian Kurdish rebels, illustrate Ankara’s growing frustration with its North Atlantic Treaty Organisation ally, which backs the rebels in the battle against Islamic State (IS).

Adding to the tension, the army said one Turkish soldier had been killed and another wounded when security forces clashed with Kurdish militants crossing over from Syria.

Ankara sees the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) as terrorists, citing their links to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has carried out a violent, three-decade insurgency for Kurdish autonomy in the country’s southeast.

"Are you on our side or the side of the terrorist PYD and PKK organisation?" Mr Erdogan asked.

He added that Washington’s inability to grasp the nature of the two groups had caused a "sea of blood" and created a domestic security issue for Turkey.

Ankara summoned the US ambassador to express its displeasure after state department spokesman John Kirby said on Monday the US did not regard the PYD as a terrorist organisation.

As well as battling a Kurdish insurgency and IS, Turkey has been grappling with an influx of more than 2.5-million refugees since the start of the Syrian civil war.

Turkey’s spending on the Syrian refugee crisis had reached $10bn, while the United Nations had given just $455m, Mr Erdogan said.

Turkish soldiers spotted seven PKK militants entering Sirnak province’s Cizre district from Syria on Tuesday evening and, as they clashed, one soldier was killed and one wounded, the Turkish armed forces said. In another incident, one police officer was killed and another wounded when PKK rebels launched a rocket attack on an armoured vehicle in the town of Sirnak, state-run Anadolu Agency reported. It was not clear when that attack occurred.

Military sources said the army seized up to 15kg of explosives and four suicide-bomber vests when it detained 34 people trying to cross into Turkey from an area in Syria under IS control.

The area of Syria near where the soldiers clashed is controlled by the PYD. Turkey fears that the advances by Syrian Kurds against IS on its 900km border with Syria will fuel separatist ambitions among its own Kurds.

Reuters