Turkey summoned the Russian charge d'affaires to convey its unease after a Turkish soldier was killed by sniper fire from a part of Kurdish-held Syria where Russian forces are active, Turkey's foreign ministry spokesman said on Thursday.
Turkish foreign ministry spokesman Hüseyin Müftüoğlu said it had summoned Russia's top diplomat in Ankara soon after a Turkish soldier on guard duty at a border post in Turkey was shot dead by sniper fire. Müftüoğlu said Turkey expects Russia to respect its sensitivities and described pictures which circulated online of Russian soldiers with Kurdish militia fighters as "unpleasant".
At a briefing with journalists, he also said the inclusion of YPG fighters in the U.S.-led operation to take Raqqa from Islamic State was unacceptable. Turkish forces were ready to take part in collaboration with the U.S.-led coalition, he said.
The Turkish military fired into the northwestern Syrian border region of Afrin on Wednesday, an area controlled by the Kurdish YPG militia, after the soldier was killed by cross-border fire, the army said. The YPG said Russian forces headed to the area.
