Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday threatened to “destroy” the border force that Washington wants to form in Syria, including Kurdish guerrillas considered by Ankara to be “terrorists”.
“The United States has recognized that it is a terrorist army on our borders, and our role is to carry out this terrorist army in the cradle,” Erdogan said in a speech in Ankara, adding that a process could be launched at any time.
The US-led coalition led by the United States on Sunday said it was working on forming a 30,000-strong border security force in eastern Syria in cooperation with Syria’s democratic forces.
The coalition said the aim of the force was to “prevent the return of the Islamic state.”
The coalition also said that “the ultimate goal is to reach a force of about 30,000,” about half of them from the Syrian Democratic Forces, and the rest will be recruited.
The units protecting the Kurdish people are the backbone of Syria’s democratic forces, but Ankara considers it a “terrorist” organization linked to the Kurdish rebels in Turkey.
– Readiness “at any moment” –
Turkish government spokesman Bakr Bouzdag accused the United States of “playing with fire” by forming the force.
“The Turkish armed forces are ready to launch an operation at any moment against the strongholds of Kurdish people’s protection units in Afrin and Manbij, in northern Syria,” he said.
“The preparations have been completed and the operation can be launched at any time,” Erdogan said. “Operations will continue until the last terrorist is eliminated.”
The Turkish army on Monday sent a convoy of reinforcements from some 20 vehicles to the Syrian border, Anatolia news agency reported.
Between August 2016 and March 2017, Turkey launched a ground operation called the Euphrates Shield in northern Syria to keep Islamic state fighters to the south and prevent Kurdish fighters from achieving territorial contiguity between the territory they control in northern Syria.
The Syrian Democratic Forces have been able to expel the Islamic state from large areas in northeastern Syria, backed by US-led coalition raids, which have also supplied weapons and equipment.
The differences of opinion over the Kurdish fighters have led to an escalation of tension between NATO and Washington.
In tandem with tension with Washington, Ankara, which supports opposition factions in Syria, has stepped up its cooperation in recent months with Moscow, an ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
The announcement by the international coalition about the creation of the force also provoked a Russian reaction, and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday he was waiting for “detailed clarifications”.
Damascus strongly criticized on Monday the determination to form this force, warning that every citizen will participate in it will be a “traitor”, the official Syrian news agency (SANA) quoted a source at the Foreign Ministry.
Turkey, which is cooperating closely with Russia on the Syrian issue, stepped up pressure in the past few days as the Syrian regime intensified its shelling of Idlib in northwestern Syria.
Ankara has rejected the participation of the Kurds in the Democratic Union Party and the Kurdish People’s Protection Units in the meeting, which President Vladimir Putin wants to hold between January 29 and 30 between representatives of the Syrian regime and the opposition in Sochi, hoping to reach a solution to the conflict. Has been killed since its outbreak in 2011.
Ankara refused to participate in the meeting, which was attended by representatives of the Kurdish factions.