Turkey threatens to crush Kurds who don’t withdraw
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened to “crush the heads” of Kurdish fighters yesterday if they did not withdraw from the areas they control at the end of the five-day ceasefire agreed with the United States.
He made the comments at an opening ceremony in the central Turkish province of Kayseri, where he said he would hold talks next week with Russian President Vladimir Putin about his proposal for a “safe zone” in northern Syria.
Turkey said it would suspend its Syria offensive for five days but Mr Erdogan, before his latest comments, said that he would resume a full-scale operation against Kurdish forces if they failed to withdraw from a border “safe zone.”
He said if he cannot reach a solution over the Syrian forces deployed with the support of the Russian military in talks with Mr Putin next week, then Ankara will “implement its own plans”.
His defence minister, Hulusi Akar, yesterday said: “We paused the operation for five days. In this time, the terrorists will withdraw from the safe zone, their weapons will be collected and position destroyed. If this doesn’t happen, we will continue the operation.
“Our preparations are ready. With the necessary order, our soldiers are ready to go anywhere.”
Both sides have accused the other of breaching the ceasefire deal.
The offensive has killed dozens of civilians, mainly on the Kurdish side, and prompted hundreds of thousands to flee their homes in the latest humanitarian crisis of Syria’s eight-year civil war.
Yesterday, Turkey accused Kurdish forces of breaching the truce.
“The Turkish armed forces fully abide by the agreement” reached on Thursday with the United States, the defence ministry said. “Despite this, terrorists carried out a total of 14 attacks in the last 36 hours,” it said, using its usual term for Kurdish fighters. The ministry said 12 of the attacks
came in the battleground border town of Ras Al Ain, one in Tel Abyad and another in the Tel Tamer area.
Syria Defence Forces’ commander Redur Khalil called on Washington to ensure Ankara honoured its side of the deal.
On Friday, Turkish air strikes and mortar fire by allied Syrian fighters killed 14 civilians in and around the village of Bab Al Kheir, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
“The Turkish side is not committing to the ceasefire and is not allowing the opening of a security corridor to evacuate the wounded and besieged civilians from Ras Al Ain,” Mr Khalil said.
US President Donald Trump was criticised by the top Republican in Congress for the withdrawal of American troops from northern Syria.
US Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell, writing in The Washington Post, called the move a “strategic nightmare” that made the US less safe. His comments came as scattered fighting flared again in the north of the country despite the ceasefire deal.
Mr Trump said Mr Erdogan had told him that there had been “minor sniper and mortar fire” in the region “that was quickly eliminated”.
He also said the Turkish leader assured him in a call that “he very much wants the ceasefire, or pause, to work”.
Mustefa Bali, a spokesman for the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, accused Turkey, however, of violating the deal reached during a visit to Ankara on Thursday by US Vice President Mike Pence.
“Despite the agreement to halt the fighting, air and artillery attacks continue to target the positions of fighters, civilian settlements and the hospital” in Ras Al Ain in north-eastern Syria, he said.
Mr McConnell on Friday said Mr Trump’s decision to withdraw US troops would help Washington’s foes and hurt its allies.
“Withdrawing US forces from Syria is a grave strategic mistake,” Mr McConnell wrote.
“It will embolden our enemies, and weaken important alliances.”
Ankara considers the Kurdish forces to be “terrorists” linked to Kurdish rebels inside Turkey.
“If the promises are kept until Tuesday evening, the safe zone issue will be resolved,” Mr Erdogan said in Istanbul.
“If it fails, the operation will start the minute 120 hours are over.”
The suspension of hostilities appeared to have been designed to help Turkey achieve its main territorial goals without fighting, but its Syrian proxies continued to clash with Kurdish fighters on Friday.