Turkish president slams U.S. for supporting Syrian Kurdish fighters

Turkish President RecepTayyip Erdogan upbraided the United States for its support of Syrian Kurdish rebels on Wednesday, saying Washington's inability to understand the group's true nature had turned the region into a "sea of blood."

• Despite ISIS attacks, Turkey focused on 'the Kurdish problem'
• Syrian peace talks: War-weary refugees say they're not interested in empty promises
• Syrian opposition sets new conditions for peace talks

"Are you on our side or the side of the terrorist PYD and PKK organization?" Erdogan said in a speech in Ankara to provincial officials, referring to Washington's backing of the Syrian Kurdish fighters against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

Turkey considers the Democratic Union Party (PYD) to be a terrorist organization, citing its ties to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has carried out a three-decade violent insurgency for Kurdish autonomy in Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast.