Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has planned a new military operation in Syria against the People’s Protection Units (YPG), a Kurdish militia considered terrorist by Ankara.
Turkey will not wait for “permission” from the United States to launch a new offensive in Syria, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said, according to comments reported by Turkish media on Sunday.
“We cannot fight terrorism while waiting for anyone’s permission,” the head of state told a group of journalists after returning from a visit to Azerbaijan.
“What will we do if the United States does not do its part in the fight against terrorism? We will manage on our own,” he added in response to a warning from Washington.
The United States, through the voice of the spokesman of the American State Department Ned Price, said on Tuesday that it was “deeply concerned” by the announcement on Monday by Mr. Erdogan of the imminent launch of a new Turkish military operation in northern Syria aimed at providing Ankara with a 30 kilometer wide “security zone” on its border.
“We condemn any escalation. We support maintaining the current ceasefire lines,” Price said.
Since 2016, Ankara has carried out three offensives in northern Syria against the People’s Protection Units (YPG), a Kurdish militia which it considers terrorist but which has been supported by the United States in particular to counter the jihadists of the Islamic State group.
Asked moreover about the NATO accession process of Sweden and Finland, which Ankara has opposed so far, the Turkish president judged that the discussions on Wednesday in Ankara between the Swedish, Finnish and Turkish delegations had not been “meeting the expectations” of Turkey.
Erdogan again accused the two Nordic countries of “supporting terrorism”, saying Sweden is neither “sincere” nor “honest”.
Turkey accuses the two countries, in particular Sweden which has a large community of Turkish exiles, of harboring Kurdish militants from the PKK, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, considered a terrorist organization by Ankara and its Western allies.
She also denounces the presence on their soil of supporters of the preacher Fethullah Gülen, whom she accuses of having orchestrated the coup attempt of July 2016.