A Turkish court has sentenced a former British soldier to seven-and-a-half years in jail for alleged links to a Kurdish militia that Ankara considers a "terrorist" group. Joe Robinson was arrested in July 2017 while holidaying in Turkey after he posted photos of himself in camouflage and posing next to fighters from the People's Protection Units (YPG) in Syria.

A court in the western city of Aydin sentenced him for "membership of a terrorist organisation," the private DHA news agency said. The YPG is an ally of the United States in the fight against the Islamic State in Syria. But Ankara is hostile to the YPG because of its links with the Kurdistan Workers' Party, which is fighting for Kurdish autonomy in Turkey.