Turkey blames US, Russia for persisting PKK/YPG attacks along Syria border

Turkey's FM Cavusoglu says the United States and Russia have not kept their promises to ensure the withdrawal of the PKK/YPG terror group from the Turkish-Syrian border area.

In this file photo, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu attends a Kusadasi Tourism Community and NGO meeting programme in Aydin on October 1, 2021.
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In this file photo, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu attends a Kusadasi Tourism Community and NGO meeting programme in Aydin on October 1, 2021.

Turkey has said it will "do what is necessary for its security" after a rise in cross-border attacks by the PKK/YPG terror group in Syria.

Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu made the remarks at a joint press conference on Wednesday in Turkey's capital Ankara with Denis Moncada Colindres, the minister of foreign affairs of Nicaragua.

“Turkey will do whatever it takes to eliminate terrorists from northern Syria,” Cavusoglu said, referring to the PKK/ YPG terror group, which repeatedly targets Turkish forces in the region.

Turkey said police in northern Syria's Azaz region were hit in a guided missile attack on Sunday launched by the YPG, the Syrian offshoot of the PKK terror group. 

On Monday, shells believed to have been fired from a YPG-controlled area further east exploded in two areas of Karkamis in southern Turkey, Ankara said.

Cavusoglu said the United States and Russia had not kept their promises to ensure YPG's withdrawal from the Syrian border area.

"In the latest attacks ... both Russia and the US have a responsibility as they did not keep their promises," Cavusoglu said. "Since they are not keeping their promises, we will do what is necessary for our security," he said.

Ankara, following military operations in Syria, reached agreements with Moscow and Washington who said they would push terror elements 30 km back into the south, away from the Turkish border, he added.

READ MORE: Several dead in YPG/PKK car bomb attack at market in Syria's Afrin

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'Final straw'

Earlier this week, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that an attack that Ankara blamed on the YPG that killed two Turkish police officers was "the final straw". 

He added that Ankara is determined to eliminate threats emanating from northern Syria, either itself or with the support of active local forces.

Since 2016, Turkey has launched a trio of successful anti-terror operations across its border in northern Syria to prevent the formation of a terror corridor and to enable the peaceful settlement of residents: Euphrates Shield (2016), Olive Branch (2018), and Peace Spring (2019).

The US backed the PYD/YPG-dominated SDF to push out Daesh from Syria. The YPG is the Syrian offshoot of the PKK terrorist organisation.

In its more than 35-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the US, and EU – has been responsible for the deaths of at least 40,000 people.

READ MORE: US should end support to YPG/PKK terror group – Turkey

READ MORE: Exclusive: PKK/YPG conscripting minors as it struggles with recruitment

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