ANKARA (Dispatches) – Turkish President
Recep Tayyip Erdogan has told journalists after concluding his visit to Azerbaijan that his country does not need U.S. permission to fight terror, Turkish media reported.
“If the U.S. is not fulfilling its duty in combating terror, what will we do? We will take care of it ourselves,” Erdogan insisted. “All coalition forces, starting with the U.S., have provided these terror groups with a serious amount of weapons, vehicles, tools and ammunition and they continue to do so. The U.S. has given them thousands of trucks.”
The Turkish leader’s comments came in response to journalists asking him about his country’s plan for a new operation to establish a so-called safe zone by rooting out a Kurdish militia from northern Syria. “Like I always say, we will come down on them suddenly one night,” Erdogan was quoted as saying by Hurriyet. “And we must.”
The Turkish president did not provide further details, but said the operation would begin after Turkey’s military, intelligence and security forces completed preparations.
On Tuesday, the United States warned Turkey against launching a new operation, saying the uneasy NATO ally would be putting U.S. troops at risk.
Turkey has deployed forces in Syria in violation of the Arab country’s territorial integrity. The U.S. military has stationed forces and equipment in eastern and northeastern Syria, claiming that it is aimed at preventing the oilfields in the area from falling into the hands of Daesh terrorists.
Damascus says the unlawful deployment is meant to plunder the country’s resources.
Ankara-backed militants were deployed to northeastern Syria in October 2019, after Turkish military forces launched a long-threatened cross-border invasion in a declared attempt to push fighters of the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) away from border areas.
Ankara views the U.S.-backed YPG as a terrorist organization tied to the homegrown Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has been seeking an autonomous Kurdish region in Turkey since 1984.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and other senior officials have said Damascus will respond through all legitimate means available to the ground offensive by Turkish forces and allied militants in the northern part of the Arab country.