US, Turkey Air Differences Over Syrian Kurdish Militia

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden met Thursday with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Washington, where Turkish officials expressed disappointment about the two sides' disagreement on the issue of the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia.

The YPG is the armed branch of Syria’s powerful Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD). The U.S. views the PYD as an efficient combatant against Islamic State terrorists in northern Syria. However, Turkey says the PYD is aligned with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), a militant leftist group fighting for autonomy in southeastern Turkey. Ankara considers the PKK a terrorist group.

Erdogan is in Washington for the Nuclear Security Summit.

Earlier this year, Biden visited Turkey, where he criticized the country's leaders for cracking down on freedom of expression. 

He said the Turkish government was not setting the right "example" with its imprisonment of journalists and investigation of academics who have criticized the government's military campaign against Turkey's Kurdish-dominated southeastern sector.
 voanews.com
31/3/16