Türkiye ‘firmer than ever’ on securing border

The recent air operations against the PKK/YPG terrorists in the region were only the beginning, and Türkiye is prepared to launch a land operation when the right time comes, President Erdoğan says

TÜRKİYE is more determined than ever to protect its Syrian border from PKK-linked YPG terrorist attacks, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said yesterday, insisting that a ground operation would start “at the most convenient time.”

Erdoğan, who was making a speech to his ruling Justice and Development Party’s (AK Party) lawmakers in Parliament, has signaled a possible ground operation against the YPG forces in Syria after retaliatory strikes escalated along the Syrian border in recent days.

Türkiye’s air operation in northern Iraq and Syria to clear the regions of terrorists is “just the beginning,” Erdoğan said, adding that the country will launch a ground operation in Syria “when convenient.”

“Our operations with planes, cannons and drones are only the beginning. Our determination to secure all our southern border ... with a safe zone is stronger today than ever before,” Erdoğan said. “While we press ahead with air raids uninterrupted, we will crack down on terrorists also by land at the most convenient time for us,” he said.

Türkiye has remained faithful to its promises regarding the borders of Syria and has every right to take care of its own problems in northern Syria while others did not fulfill their promises, he said, possibly referring to the previous promises by the United States and Russia in the region.

“If our interlocutors cannot fulfill the requirements of the agreement, we have the right to take care of ourselves.”

The president specified northern Syria’s YPG-controlled Tal Rifaat, Manbij and Ain al-Arab (Kobani) regions as possible targets to clear of terrorists.

“We have formed part of this corridor

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(and) will take care of it starting with places such as Tal Rifaat, Manbij and Ain al-Arab, which are the sources of trouble,” he underlined.

The PKK/YPG mostly carries out terrorist attacks in Manbij, Ain al-Arab and the Tal Rifaat district of Aleppo.

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TÜRKİYE’S security is threatened by terrorist elements near its southern border and the country has the right to self-defense, the White House declared on Tuesday.

“Türkiye does continue to suffer a legitimate terrorist threat, particularly to their south. They certainly have every right to defend themselves and their citizens,” National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications, John Kirby, told reporters.

He revealed that the U.S. has concerns about cross-border operations, which he said would affect the fight against Daesh carried out by the Syrian offshoot of the PKK terrorist organization, the YPG.

The operations “might force a reaction by some of our SDF partners, that would ... constrain their ability to continue the fight against ISIS,” Kirby added, using alternative acronyms for the YPG and Daesh, respectively. Hours after Kirby’s remarks, the Pentagon too announced it was monitoring the situation in northern Syria following Türkiye’s Operation Claw-Sword against terrorist elements beyond its borders, which Ankara said was carried out in line with the right of self-defense under Article 51 of the United Nations Charter.

“We continue to monitor what’s happening on the ground and from all aspects of this department. We continue to urge for de-escalation on all sides,” spokesperson Sabrina Singh said at a press briefing. When asked who the sides were, Singh did not name any party.

She said the Turkish strikes in Syria and Iraq were disrupting the goal of the “enduring defeat” of the terrorist group Daesh.