Erdogan says a military offensive in Syria “remains on the agenda” and calls for the withdrawal of US troops

He accuses Washington of “supporting terrorist organizations” and stresses that Turkey “has no problem with Syrian territorial integrity”

July 20 (EUROPA PRESS) –

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stressed on Wednesday that a possible military offensive against the Kurdish militia People’s Protection Units (YPG) in northern Syria “remains on the agenda”, while calling for the withdrawal of troops. Americans from the area east of the Euphrates, where it supports the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), whose main member is the YPG.

“The United States must leave the area east of the Euphrates once and for all,” he indicated, before stressing that this “is the assessment of the Astana process,” made up of Turkey, Russia and Iran. Erdogan met in Tehran on Tuesday with his Iranian and Russian counterparts, Ebrahim Raisi and Vladimir Putin, respectively, to discuss the situation in Syria, amid his threat about a new threat in the north of the country.

Thus, he has criticized that “the United States supports terrorist organizations”, referring to the YPG, which Ankara considers a terrorist group due to its ties with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). “We fight against these organizations, so our job would be easier if you withdraw from there or stop supporting these groups,” he said.

Erdogan has emphasized that he has transferred this request to the US president, Joe Biden, to whom he has complained about the delivery of weapons to the SDF. “They are giving this support to terrorist organizations and then they tell us that we are together in NATO in the fight against terrorism. Are we really together?” He asked, according to the Turkish newspaper ‘Hurriyet’.

In this sense, he has reiterated that “US troops train members of the terrorist organization.” “While they do it, they raise the flag of the (Syrian) regime. Why? To deceive us, if they can,” he said, before reiterating that Ankara “wants the support of Russia and Iran in the fight against terrorists in a space of 30 kilometers from the border (between Syria and Turkey)”.

“Turkey has no problem with the territorial integrity of Syria, but we are highlighting the situation within 30 kilometers from the border, as there are assaults and attacks against us from these areas. Our people die and our troops fall martyrs,” he denounced. the Turkish president.

The presidents of Iran, Russia and Turkey defended Tuesday in a three-way meeting that the solution to the conflict of the war in Syria must be “political”, after the Supreme Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, warned Erdogan of the negative impact that a new military offensive against the YPG would have.

Damascus announced on Monday the deployment of soldiers in the towns of Ain Isa and Ain al Arab, located in the provinces of Raqqa and Aleppo, after an agreement with the SDF, whose leader, Mazlum Abdi, recently indicated his Kurdish forces had withdrawn from the area to allow its replacement by Syrian soldiers.

Abdi defended that the SDF has fulfilled its part in the 2019 ceasefire agreement. “This time it will not be a war of the SDF and the Kurds, but it will be a war in all of Syria. The war will be with those who do not they want Syrian territory to be invaded,” he said.

“The areas occupied by Turkey have become a safe area for the Islamic State,” he stressed, after the death of its leaders Abu Bakr al Baghdadi and Abu Ibrahim al Hashimi al Quraishi, and other senior officials in US operations in these areas. Thus, he warned that if Turkey launches an offensive — supported by the Free Syrian Army (FSA) — “the joint fight — with the coalition led by the United States — against the Islamic State will not be maintained.”