US Clarifies PKK Statement in Diplomats’ Conversation  

United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday attempted to defuse the latest brouhaha between Washington and Ankara, stressing the White House’s support for Turkey amid the execution of 13 of its citizens at the hands of Kurdish fighters. In his first call with counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu since taking office, Blinken on Monday reaffirmed that the US believes “PKK terrorists bear responsibility” for the killings, referring to the organization fighting for Kurdish independence which both Turkey and the US consider a terror group. On Sunday, Washington issued a more tempered statement, condemning the executions only if they were confirmed to be the doing of the PKK. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called the tepid denouncement “a joke,” accused the US of “clearly supporting” the Kurds in Turkey, Iraq and Syria, and summoned the US ambassador to Ankara for an earful. US support for Kurdish fighters in Syria and Iraq in recent years, part of the global battle against ISIS, has rubbed Turkey the wrong way, as Ankara continues to occupy territories in northern Syria in its attempt to stifle Kurdish resistance near its borders.