The Turkish government has alleged in a report that the Egyptian government of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has provided funds and weapons to the Turkey-based Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
The PKK is a Marxist-inspired guerrilla group listed as a terrorist organization by the United States and the rest of NATO.
President Sisi has allegedly agreed to provide more weapons and financial aid to the terror-listed Kurdish group, indicates Hurriyet Daily News, citing the Turkish intelligence report.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is an outspoken critic of Sisi, notes Rudaw, adding that the cooperation between the Egyptian leader and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, which has been fighting against the Turkish government for decades, may “be a case of my enemy’s enemy is my friend.”
Kurdistan Workers’ Party representatives have allegedly met with the government of Sisi at least three times since December 2015.
“The first contact between Egypt and the PKK started with the mediation of the central government of Iraq. A delegation from the PKK was allowed to go to Baghdad in the middle of December last year. The PKK delegation went to Cairo with a visa they obtained from the Egyptian Embassy in Baghdad,” reportedly says the Turkish intelligence report, adding that the subsequent meeting was planned during the first one.
“A more authorized PKK delegation went to Cairo and met with some high-level officials from the Egyptian intelligence service in January 2016. Egypt gave the message that it could support the PKK for the first time in this meeting. Egypt transferred weapons and money after this meeting,” adds the report.
During the third meeting, which took place in April, seven PKK representatives allegedly traveled to Cairo and agreed to gather intelligence on Muslim Brotherhood (MB) members in Turkey.
The PKK vowed to take action against the MB “if necessary,” according to the Turkish intelligence report.
As chief of the Egyptian army in 2013, Sisi led the movement to remove former President Mohammed Morsi, a Muslim Brotherhood leader, following protests calling for his removal. Erdogan has described the Egyptian president as an “illegitimate tyrant.”
“For me, Morsi is Egypt’s president, not Sisi,” the Turkish leader declared in May 2015.
Now, Erdogan’s government is claiming Sisi is working to establish a relationship with the anti-Erdogan PKK, points out Rudaw.
Turkey, the United States, and the rest of NATO have designated the PKK a terrorist organization. The group was formed with Marxist-Leninist roots in the Turkish capital of Ankara and has been fighting the Turkish government for decades — initially for an independent Kurdish state within Turkey and, more recently, for some level of autonomy.
Turkey has experienced a rise in PKK-linked attacks in recent months, particularly after a two-and-a-half year ceasefire between the Turkish security forces and Kurdistan Workers’ Party terrorists collapsed in July 2015, under Erdogan’s watch.
The Turkish intelligence report alleged that Egypt has open the door for the U.S.-backed Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) to open an office in Cairo, reports Hurriyet.
Turkey has long accused the PYD and its armed wing, the People’s Protection Units (YPG), of being affiliated with the terrorist PKK group.
Meanwhile, the Obama administration insists that the YPG and PYD are not terrorists despite their alleged links to the PKK, a position that has drawn rebuke from America’s NATO ally Turkey. The U.S. is lending military support to the YPG in its fight against the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) in Syria.
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