Trump says Kurdish PKK ‘probably more of terrorist threat’ than Islamic State

US President Donald Trump says the Kurdish rebel PKK, who have waged a decades-long insurgency against Ankara, are “probably” a bigger terror threat than the Islamic State group.

“The PKK, which is a part of the Kurds, as you know, is probably worse at terror and more of a terrorist threat in many ways than ISIS,” Trump tells a news conference at the White House.

US President Donald Trump meets with Italian President Sergio Mattarella (not pictured) in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on October 16, 2019. (Brendan Smialowski / AFP)

Tens of thousands have died since the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) took up arms against the Turkish state in 1984. The PKK is considered a terror group by Ankara, the United States and the European Union.

Under fire for abandoning America’s Kurdish allies in the anti-IS fight to face a Turkish assault in northern Syria, Trump disparaged the Kurds earlier today saying they “are not angels.”

— AFP

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