7 yıl önce

Erdogan vows to thwart any YPG-controlled state in Syria

The Turkish president said the establishment of a YPG state in Syria would amount to the establishment of a "terror corridor" extending to the Mediterranean Sea.

Staff Reporter

AFP

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan gestures as he speaks at Presidential Complex in Ankara, on August 22, 2017 where he promised that the YPG would not be allowed to establish a state in northern Syria. Picture: AFP

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday vowed Turkey would thwart any attempt by the YPG to carve out an independent state in northern Syria.

"We do not and will never allow a so-called state to be established by the PYD, YPG in northern Syria," Erdogan said in a speech in Ankara.

"They want to establish a terror corridor in northern Syria reaching the Mediterranean," he said.

The PYD/YPG are in control of two swathes of territory in Syria's northeast, as well as the Afrin region to the west.

Erdogan added that Turkey would continue to fight against terror organisations "wherever we find them," referring to the YPG, which Turkey says is the Syrian affiliate of the outlawed PKK.

The PKK is proscribed as a terror group by Turkey, the US and the European Union.

It has waged a deadly armed campaign against the Turkish state since 1984, during which over 40,000 people have been killed.

In August last year, Turkey launched a cross-border operation in northern Syria, Euphrates Shield, aimed at clearing the border zone of YPG and other terrorist groups.

The president indicated on August 5 that Turkey was planning to expand the operation with "new and important steps" but did not give further details.

Erdogan on Monday said a joint operation with Iran against militants which "pose a threat," including the PKK, is "always on the agenda."

He was speaking after a visit last week by the Iranian armed forces chief, General Mohammad Hossein Baqheri.

Iranian security forces have also fought the PKK's affiliate, the PJAK. Both groups have rear bases in neighbouring Iraq.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu will visit Iraq on Wednesday, his ministry said, to discuss issues including next month's independence referendum in Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region.

Cavusoglu will meet Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al Abadi in Baghdad and then Iraqi Kurdish leader Massud Barzani in Irbil.

Ankara has repeatedly warned against holding the non-binding September 25 poll. Last week, Cavusoglu said the plans could lead to civil war.