Erdogan Vows New Ground Operation in Syria ‘When Convenient’

Date: 23 November 2022 - 21:32

News ID: ۱۰۹۳۲۱

ANKARA (Reuters) – Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said that his country’s air operations against the YPG militia in northern Syria were only the beginning and that it would launch a land operation there when convenient.
Erdogan said on Wednesday that Turkey was more determined than ever to secure its southern border with a “security corridor” while ensuring the territorial integrity of both Syria and Iraq, where it has been conducting operations against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), and groups it considers to be affiliated, such as the YPG, or People’s Protection Units.
“We are continuing the air operation and will come down hard on the terrorists from land at the most convenient time for us,” Erdogan said in a speech to his AK Party politicians in parliament.
“We have formed part of this corridor (and) will take care of it starting with places such as Tal Rifaat, Manbij and Ayn al-Arab (Kobane), which are the sources of trouble,” he added.
Erdogan had said on Tuesday that Turkey’s military operations in Syria would not be limited only to an air operation.
Turkey has previously mounted major military operations in Syria against the largely Kurdish YPG militia. The YPG shares close ideological links to the PKK, and Turkey has long labeled it the Syrian wing of the organization.
While the PKK is a designated “terrorist” group in Turkey, many other Western countries back the YPG-dominated so-called Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
Ankara launched the air operations at the weekend, saying they were retaliation for an Istanbul bomb attack a week earlier that killed six people, and which authorities blamed on the PKK and the YPG. Nobody has claimed responsibility and the PKK and YPG have denied involvement.
Turkey has for months signaled its intention to launch a ground operation against the YPG in northern Syria, hoping to root it out from the Syrian side of the Turkey-Syria border.
Western countries, as well as Russia and Iran, have put pressure on Turkey to not attack.
Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar said the army had hit 471 targets in Syria and Iraq since the weekend in what he said was Turkey’s biggest air operation of recent times.
He received briefings and gave instructions late on Tuesday in a video conference with the chief of general staff, the land forces commander and the commanders of border units, his ministry said on Wednesday.