Turkey aims at Kurdish militia

ISTANBUL: Turkey pledged yesterday to press ahead with plans to target a Kurdish militia in northern Syria, brushing off what it said were American efforts to stymie Turkish military operations east of the Euphrates.

President Tayyip Erdogan said last week that Turkey would launch a new operation within days against the US-backed Syrian Kurdish YPG militia in northern Syria.

The Pentagon expressed grave concern and said unilateral military action there by any party would be “unacceptable”.

Relations between the two Nato allies have long been strained by Syria policy. The US has backed the YPG against Islamic State fighters.

Ankara, however, sees the YPG as terrorists tied to PKK militants who have fought an insurgency in southeast Turkey for 34 years.

Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said the US had tried to hold Turkey back during two operations in Syria in the last two years against Islamic State and the YPG, which controls swathes of Syria’s northern border region.

Baghdad summoned Turkey’s ambassador to Iraq on Friday after Ankara said it killed eight PKK fighters.

But Turkish warplanes have since carried out further strikes.

Yesterday, Turkey’s Defence Ministry said airstrikes on Sunday targeted northern Iraq’s Gara and Hakurk areas and “neutralised” seven militants.

On Sunday he vowed again to maintain attacks on militants.

The US has set up observation posts on the Syrian border, saying they will deter security threats against Turkey coming from Syria. It has warned Turkey against a new incursion.