Erdogan says Turkey to go its own way in Syria

ISTANBUL: Turkey has no choice but to act on its own after failing to make progress with the US on a planned “safe zone” in Syria’s north, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday.

“Turkey cannot wait for another single day. We have no option but to thread our own path,” Erdogan told the parliament in Ankara. “We can come suddenly one night,” he was quoted by state news agency Anadolu, using a reference for unilateral military action.

Nato allies Turkey and the US agreed in August to create a “safe zone” along the north-eastern Syrian border with Turkey.

Erdogan has repeatedly warned that if the zone is not established by the end of September, then Turkey will have to implement its own military plans. Turkey already controls areas west of Euphrates following two military operations there.

Turkey does not want war and supports Syrian territorial integrity, Erdogan said, but added that a terror threat from this country “can no longer be tolerated”.

Turkey wants Us-backed Kurdish militia YPG, which it says is linked to insurgents at home, to be completely removed from northern Syria.

Despite the August deal with Washington it was never clear if the YPG will leave or who would control the so-called zone.

Turkey plans to relocate as many as 2 million Syrian refugees in the 30-kilometreszone, Erdogan said, which he added would cover an area from east of the Euphrates River to the Iraqi border.

Meanwhile, the Kremlin said that Moscow was watching closely after Turkey said it would act alone on its plans to form a “safe zone” in the northeast of Syria, which is a close ally of Russia.