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Turkey to attack Syrian Kurdish forces
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said yesterday that the Turkish military operation in Syria will move to “a different phrase,” implying a new offensive against the US-backed Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG).
Erdogan said: “We will move the process which we started with the Euphrates Shield and Olive Branch operations [in northern Syria] forward to a different phase very soon. Turkey has the right to eliminate all threats against its national security … We expect clear steps from the US over the extradition of FETÖ ringleader to Turkey and the halting of arming of the PKK/YPG.”
Turkey regards the YPG as a terrorist group due to its connection to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has been at war with the Turkish state for the last 41 years. The YPG is supported by the US as the main fighting force against ISIS in Syria.
Erdogan’s threat comes after US Ambassador James Jeffrey visited Ankara for inconclusive talks about Syria’s northeast. Turkey demands full control over a 32 kilometre-deep stretch of territory, spanning from the Euphrates River to the Syrian-Turkish-Iraqi border. According to The Washington Post, the US offered Turkey a limited presence in a US-administered safe zone 9 miles deep and 87 miles long. Turkey reportedly rejected the offer.
US Defence Secretary Mark Esper said yesterday that the US does not “have any ambition to abandon” Kurdish units in Syria that face possible military incursion from Turkey, but he stopped short of pledging to defend them. He said: “Clearly, we believe that any unilateral action by them would be unacceptable. So, what we’re trying to do now is work out an arrangement to address their concerns, and I’m hopeful we will get there.”
President Erdogan also said that Turkey’s purchase of the Russian S-400 missile defence system was a commercial rather than a strategic move, arguing that the S-400 will not impede the NATO system, of which Turkey is a member. “Many NATO member states have purchased from Russia. We don’t see this being turned into a crisis,” he said.