Turkey not to comply with Syrian cease-fire if under threat: PM

Turkey will not be bound by the expected truce in Syria if Ankara is under threat, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Thursday.

"This deal is valid for Syria, for parties that are in clash within Syria. This ceasefire is not binding us when any of the parties poses threat to Turkey, when Turkey's security is threatened," local Daily News quoted Davutoglu as saying.

He said that the Syrian Kurdish People's Protection Unit (YPG), the military wing of the Democratic Union Party (PYD) in northern Syria, is a terrorist organization just like the Islamic State (IS) and al-Nusra Front.

The cease-fire should also refer to the Kurdish group as a terrorist group, but it failed to do so, Davutoglu stated.

Turkey would not need anyone's permission to carry out "security measures" when the country's security was at stake, he said.

"It will not be a Syrian issue but an issue for Turkey," the prime minister added.

The Turkish military has hit targets of the PYD several times in northern Syria over the past two weeks. Ankara considers the group an affiliate of the outlawed Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK).

Turkish officials said that the YPG was behind a car bomb attack on Feb. 17 that killed 29 people, an accusation denied by the YPG.

Later, the Kurdistan Freedom Hawks (TAK), a group once linked to, but later severed relations with, the PKK, said it carried out the attack targetting military personnel. Endit