Turkey's president Tayyip Erdogan rebuked the United States on Wednesday for supporting Syrian Kurdish rebels, saying Washington is to blame for the "sea of blood" in the region.
Turkey, which sees the Syrian Kurdish PYD as terrorists, fears that their advances against ISIS on its 560-mile border with Syria will fuel separatist ambitions among its own Kurds.
Erdogan said Washington doesn't understand the true nature of the group, which it sees as terrorists, citing their links to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has carried out a violent insurgency for Kurdish autonomy in Turkey's southeast.
Erdogan's comments came a day after Turkey summoned the U.S. ambassador to express its displeasure after State Department spokesman John Kirby said on Monday the United States did not regard the PYD as a terrorist organization.
