Turkish-backed forces began the offensive last week by capturing the Syrian frontier town of Jarablus from Islamic State; they then advanced on areas controlled by Kurdish-aligned militias which have USA support in battling jihadists.
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A Kurdish official in Syria says Turkish forces have opened fire and lobbed tear gas across the border to break up a protest by Kobani locals against a barrier wall being built by Turkey, killing one teenager.
Ankara says the Kurdish militia combatants in Syria have links with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which is prohibited in Turkey and fighting Turkish forces in the south-east of the country.
“Nobody can expect us to allow a terror corridor on our southern border”, Erdogan added.
The spokesman for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan denies that Turkey has agreed to a cease-fire with Syrian Kurdish forces, saying it was “out of the question” for Ankara to reach any agreement with a group it considers a terror organization.
He reiterated Turkish calls that Washington has to live up to its assurances that the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party, or PYD, fully withdraws to the east of the Euphrates River, and that the pullout immediately takes place.
But the Turkish military is steadily reinforcing its presence in Syria, with its forces expanding to the west and south. Analysts say Ankara is likely seeking to carve out a region under its control along the border about 100 kilometers long and 30 kilometers deep, running between the Syrian border towns of Jarabulus to al-Rai.
Turkey sent tanks and jets into Syria last week to help Syrian rebels take Jarablus and also to curtail advances by Syrian Kurdish forces.
The Iranian spokesman said that until Turkey pulled out, the conflict would only intensify.
“We all must have an interest in avoiding long-term military confrontations on Syrian soil”, he told reporters in Bratislava.
“We do not believe the USA claims that the terrorists have moved to the east of Euphrates”, Erdogan said at a press conference at the Ankara airport ahead of his departure to China to take part in the Group of Twenty (G20) summit.
However Turkish forces have aslo targeted YPG forces, refusing to cease their attack until the Kurdish militia move to the east of the Euphrates river.
“These conflicting reports could be a further indication of mounting tension between Turkey and the U.S. about how to deal with northern Syria”, said Al Jazeera’s Hashem Ahelbarra, reporting from Gaziantep on the Turkish side of the Syria-Turkey border. “They (the Syrian Kurdish fighters) remain a threat for us until they cross east of the Euphrates”. “The proof depends on our own observation”.
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Criticism by any Western powers will add to tensions with Ankara, which has accused the United States and Europe of proving poor allies by calling for restraint as the government rounded up coup sympathizers, and failing to appreciate the depth of the threat the coup presented to Turkey’s democracy.
