Turkey is determined to clear its border with Syria of militants and assure the security of the country, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Monday, after the White House said Ankara will soon launch an offensive into northern Syria.
On Sunday, the White House press secretary said Turkey will soon move forward with its long-planned military operation to create what it calls a "safe zone" in northern Syria and U.S. forces will not support or be involved in it.
"Since the beginning of the crisis in Syria, we supported the country's territorial integrity, and we will continue to do so from now on," Cavusoglu said. "We will contribute to peace and stability in Syria," he said in a tweet.
The move marks a major shift in US policy, and effectively abandons an American ally in the battle against the so-called Islamic State group that took over swathes of Syria.
"Turkey will soon be moving forward with its long-planned operation into Northern Syria," a White House statement issued late Sunday evening said.
"The United States Armed Forces will not support or be involved in the operation, and United States forces, having defeated the ISIS territorial 'Caliphate,' will no longer be in the immediate area," it said, using another acronym for the Islamic State (IS) group.
The statement, which followed a call between the US president and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan, also criticized "France, Germany, and other European nations" for what it said was their refusal to take back citizens detained in northern Syria.
"Turkey will now be responsible for all ISIS fighters in the area captured over the past two years in the wake of the defeat of the territorial 'Caliphate' by the United States," the statement said.
Erdogan and Trump agreed to meet in Washington next month to discuss creating a "safe zone" in northern Syria, the Turkish presidency said.
Erdogan also expressed his "frustration over the US military and security bureaucracy's failure" to implement an August deal establishing a buffer zone on the Turkish border.
The day before, the Turkish leader warned that Ankara could launch a cross-border offensive "as soon as today, tomorrow."
Kurdish authorities in northeast Syria have denounced Erdogan's comments and urged the international community to step in to stop a Turkish assault on Syrian territory under their control.
Ankara wants to push the Syrian Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) militia from its border, saying that the group is a "terrorist" offshoot of Kurdish insurgents in Turkey.
Ankara said wants to urgently establish a "safe zone" for some of the 3.6 million refugees who fled the war in Syria, amid growing public backlash against their presence in Turkey, and a clamour for them to be returned.
The number of Turkish military patrols on the frontier with armoured vehicles "increased" on Sunday in the border town of Akcakale, the private DHA news agency said.
Nine trucks carrying armoured vehicles and a bus with military personnel on board had reached Akcakale in Sanliurfa province, state news agency Anadolu reported late Saturday.
The convoy was sent to reinforce the military units on the Syria border, the agency said, without directly linking the arrival with the operation threatened by Turkey.
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) warned that any Turkish attack would reverse the gains made against IS and make Syria a zone of permanent conflict.
"Erdogan's threats are aimed to change the security mechanism into a mechanism of death, displace our people & change the stable & secure region into a zone of conflict and permanent war," the SDF said in a series of tweets.
Agencies
Comments About This Article
Please fill the fields below.