The next day, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu blamed a Syrian Kurdish YPG militia fighter working with Kurdish militants inside Turkey for the attack, naming him as Salih Necar, born in 1992, and from the Hasakah region of northern Syria. It has also since stepped up pressure on the United States and other allies to stop supporting the group despite their key role in combating the Islamic State group in Syria.
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U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, have held a telephone conversation to discuss issues connected with the proposed upcoming cease-fire in Syria.
The Turkish General Staff said in a statement that the soldier, who was heavily wounded in an attack in the central district of Sur in Diyarbakir province, died in hospital on Thursday morning.
North Atlantic Treaty Organisation member Turkey has grown increasingly frustrated by the worldwide response to Syria´s five-year-old war, incensed by a Russian intervention which has tipped the balance of power in favour of Ankara´s arch-enemy Assad and by USA support for a Kurdish militia it sees as a hostile insurgent force.
Turkish president also noted that the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) is a common problem of the Turks and the Kurds.
“This ceasefire is actually for Syria, for the sides that are within its borders”, Davutoglu told journalists on Thursday. “Russian help from air is very important for the Syrian army”, she noted.
However, Turkey views ground operations as necessary and would be a willing partner if the notion got approval from a broader coalition, an official said last week.
“We, the People’s Protection Units (YPG), give great importance to the process of cessation of hostilities announced by the United States and Russian Federation and we will respect it, while retaining the right to retaliate… if we are attacked”, YPG spokesman Redur Xelil said on his Facebook page.
Turkey is not the only party threatening to disregard the latest cease-fire proposal.
The Syrian government has said it accepts the terms of the deal on the condition that military efforts against Daesh and the al-Qaeda-linked al-Nusra Front continue.
He warned the YPG and the PKK “not to support terror in Turkey” just because of the ceasefire in Syria.
He quipped that if fighting IS was the only criteria, then the West should cooperate the Al-Nusra front which often battles the even more extremist IS jihadists.
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Syria’s opposition has indicated it is ready for a two-week truce, saying it is a chance to test the seriousness of the Syrian government’s commitment to a cessation of hostilities.
