In a later statement, Bilgic said Turkey’s Euphrates Shield ” operation. will continue, with up-most respect to the territorial integrity of Syria, until the calamity of terror is not disturbing Turkish citizens”.
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Tension between Ankara and Washington over Kurdish forces in Syria is continuing to simmer amid contradicting statements on Turkey’s recent military operation on Syrian soil, with the latter insisting that Turkey should hit the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) but not Syrian Kurdish fighters, whom Turkey describes as “terrorists”.
A Turkish Foreign Ministry statement said that Turkey expects YPG forces to retreat to eastern side of the river Euphrates and stated that USA officials statements on Turkey’s intentions were “unacceptable”.
A top United States general said Tuesday that ISIS fighters defied their leader’s orders to fight to the death in a recent battle, instead retreating to the north.
Turkish troops and allied Syrian rebels have been fighting Kurdish-led forces following an August 24 Turkish incursion into Syria.
Hollande called for cooperation with Russia and said he would invite Russian President Vladimir Putin to France in October, saying Russia should be “a player in negotiations, not a protagonist in the action”.
The truce came against the backdrop of a recent showdown between both rebel groups in that region, especially after Turkey pushed in with special forces, tanks, and FSA fighters from its side of the borders and captured Jarablus from the hands of the Islamic State (IS) group last week. This has left the United States heavily dependent on the PYD, an affiliate of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) – a US -designated terrorist group – and a sworn enemy of Turkey.
“The statements of US officials about the content and the targets of the Euphrates Shield operation. are unacceptable and are not in line with the alliance between the two countries”, a foreign ministry spokesman said, adding that a complaint had been lodged with the USA ambassador to Turkey.
Separately, Turkish military sources told Reuters news agency that the country’s army had not agreed to any ceasefire with Kurdish fighters in northern Syria.
“The absolute urgency is a halt to fighting and a return to negotiations”, Hollande said.
The Kurdish-led forces “are shamelessly using the war in Syria to create a de facto terrorist state in Syria”, the spokesman wrote. The SDF, aided by coalition airstrikes, repelled the attack initially, but Darwish said clashes continued.
Senior Turkish military official denied that Turkey and the USA reached a “loose” agreement to stop fighting between Turkish forces and YPG-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), Daily Sabah reported. In comments published Tuesday in the pro-government Daily Sabah newspaper, presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin urged USA officials to “revise their policy of supporting (the Kurdish-led force) at all costs”. In taking Jarablus, groups including the Sultan Murad Division, Faylaq al-Sham, Liwa al-Mutasim, and the Nour al-Din al-Zenki Movement were moved from other rebel areas farther west, through Turkish territory, and over the border into the Jarablus fight.
Darwish said SDF forces have pulled back to south of the Sajour and into the Manbij area, a move unlikely to be accepted by Turkey since Ankara wants them to withdraw completely east of the Euphrates river.
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He accused Turkey of targeting civilians and said Turkey-backed rebels shelled a village south of Jarablus, killing at least five. If Turkey and its allies can hold it, Jarablus could serve as a springboard for further Turkish-backed expansion of an anti-Islamic State buffer zone.
