Turkey tells Germany Kurdish militant groups must lay down arms

ANKARA, Dec 20 (Reuters) – Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told his visiting German counterpart Annalena Baerbock on Friday that it is essential for Kurdish militant groups including the PKK and YPG to lay down arms and dissolve, Turkish Foreign Ministry officials said.

Ankara considers the YPG, which has fought for years in Syria alongside U.S. troops, to be an extension of the PKK, which fights against the Turkish state and is banned as a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the EU and United States.

Turkish forces and their Syrian allies have clashed with a YPG-led alliance in Syria since the fall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad this month. (Reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu Writing by Ece Toksabay Editing by Peter Graff)

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