Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday suggested Turkey and the U.S. are ready to drive the Islamic State from its Syrian stronghold of al-Raqqa.
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Turkey’s deputy prime minister said Wednesday that Syrian refugees in the country were being encouraged to return to their homes in areas retaken from the “Islamic State” (IS) group by Turkish troops and allied Syrian rebels who launched an offensive there two weeks ago.
Six Turkish soldiers have been killed so far in rocket attacks in Syria blamed on IS but Erdogan said that the Euphrates Shield would continue and “not one drop” of blood of Turkey’s forces would be spilt in vain.
Isik also said that YPG fighters had still not retreated east of the Euphrates river as promised after a USA -backed operation to take the Syrian town of Manbij from Islamic State.
U.S. officials have welcomed Turkish efforts to dislodge Islamic State but voiced concern when Turkish troops engaged fighters aligned with the Kurdish YPG militia, a force Washington sees as a valuable ally in battling jihadists.
Erdogan’s comments on Raqqa were published in Turkish media, but there has been no confirmation from the US.
“The importance of the fact that Turkey’s border with Syria is now completely free of the Islamic State militants was emphasised in the call”. “We said this wouldn’t be an issue from our standpoint”.
The Turkish military also said on Thursday that YPG forces fired on a Turkish border post on Wednesday and they returned fire.
“We need to show we are present in the region”, said Erdogan.
Mr Erdogan gave few other details but said more discussions would follow.
“If we want to cleanse Syria and Iraq of Daesh, it was important that we mount operations both in Mosul and in Raqqa”.
Ankara wants worldwide support to take control of a rectangle of territory stretching about 40 km into Syria, creating a buffer between two Kurdish-held cantons to the east and west and against Islamic State to the south.
Erdogan said he was ready to support such a plan, although he said a specific Turkish role would depend on further talks.
Turkey does not have the option of taking a step back on Syria or else terror groups will fill in the gap, Erdoğan added.
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Whatever happens in the triangle of US-Kurdish-Turkish relations, the Kurds have recently vowed to defend their lands in northeast Syria against the Turks by whatever means necessary, while reportedly expressing concern that US support for their cause has been on the wane lately.
