“Mr President (Erdogan) told Obama that as Turkey we look favourably carrying out such a joint operation”, he said.
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Deputy Turkish Prime Minister Nurettin Canikli had announced earlier that Turkey may push deeper into Syria after securing a stretch of land next to their border.
Three Turkish soldiers have been killed and one wounded during clashes with Islamic State fighters in northern Syria, according to Turkey’s armed forces.
But Ankara’s move, steered against Kurdish forces backed by Washington in part, prompted serious tensions in US-Turkey relations inferior in the aftermath of the unsuccessful coup against the Erdogan government.
“Obama wants to do something together especially on the issue of Raqa”, he said.
“We call on Ankara to refrain from any steps which can further destabilize the situation in Syria”, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement. “We said, ‘Let our soldiers come together, whatever is necessary will be done, ‘” he said.
Turkish army shelling killed six members of the Kurdish security forces in an area of northwestern Syria controlled by Kurdish groups overnight, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported. The president had said a specific Turkish role would depend on further talks.
Ankara has said the YPG must be made to withdraw to the eastern banks of the Euphrates river or it will be a legitimate target.
Turkey’s Dogan News Agency reported that Turkish military responded to “harassment fire in accordance with rules of engagement”.
“Of course, Turkey’s recent invasion to the Syrian city of Jarabulus was a result of certain agreements since without the awareness of the United States and especially Russia, Turkey could not carry out that operation”.
“From now on, we have to show that we exist in the region”.
Hundreds of civilians on Wednesday began returning to the border town of Jarablus in northern Syria, two weeks after the Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army recaptured it from DAESH. The terrorists were cleared from most of Syria’s border with Turkey following the operation.
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Turkey has for quite some time accused the PYD, which it considers as the Syrian extension of the PKK group, of attempting to change the ethnic demographics in the area.
