Turkey and the United States are ready to collaborate in a military campaign to drive Isis from its de facto capital Raqqa, President Erdogan has said.
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“Obama wants to do something together especially on the issue of Raqqa”, Erdogan was quoted as saying.
He said Turkey, which launched a military incursion into Syria just over two weeks ago, would seek no other objective around Manbij provided the YPG forces retreated east.
A Turkish offensive has already pushed the militant group from the border town of Jarablus and Turkish tanks and armored units are advancing toward the Islamic State-controlled town of al-Bab, northwest of Aleppo.
Deputy Prime Minister Nurettin Canikli then said after a cabinet meeting that Turkey looked “favourably” on such an operation and talks were in progress between the two countries’ militaries.
Turkish state media have subsequently broadcast footage of life returning to normal inside Jarabulus following the departure of IS, showing shops re-opening and children playing in the streets. It has also said it would support any U.S. initiative to strike Islamic State’s stronghold of Raqqa, further to the southeast.
“We said, “Let our soldiers come together, whatever is necessary will be done”.
More than 250 Syrians, including women and children, arrived at a sports complex in the Turkish border town of Karkamis for registration early on Wednesday, Turkey’s state-run Anadolu agency said. Ankara also wants to check the advance of US -allied Syrian Kurdish fighters in the region.
A statement issued by the Kurdish authorities in Afrin said the attack was a provocation by the Turkish army to “ignite the fire of war”.
Few other details were given by Mr Erdogan but said more discussions would follow.
Condemning Russian intervention in Syria, he argued: “It has fuelled the civil war and the violence there and has not helped us progress towards a political solution that would have Bashar Assad step aside and a new government including the moderate opposition take over”.
Grateful to Turkey for its hospitality, many Syrian people hope there will be a permanent peace as soon as possible.
There’s now a desire on both sides to enhance the proposition and ties in a Turkish function in the broader battle plan to recapture Raqqa is certainly part with this.
A ground operation could not be carried out by Turkey alone and must be thoroughly planned, according to the minister.
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David Phillips ended his revealing Huffington Post article with an ominous prediction: “Syria will be Erdogan’s Waterloo”.
