Cavusoglu said it was clearly not possible for opposition groups to support the continued leadership of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
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Speaking to reports accompanying him on his return from the G20 summit in Hangzhou, China, Erdogan said that U.S. President Barack Obama suggested during a meeting last week, between both parties in China, the possibility of joint military action to control the city of Raqqa.
“Obama wants to do some things jointly concerning Raqqa”, Mr Erdogan said.
“The actions that Turkey is now taking along its border with Syria, with U.S. support, is having the important effect of isolating Raqqa”, the official said.
Turkish-backed militia drove ISIS from the border town of Jarablus, but Turkey has also been concerned with checking the advance of Kurdish forces whom it regarded as terrorists. “We said this wouldn’t be an issue from our standpoint”.
The army said on Tuesday that the ISIL attack took place in the Wuquf village, south of al-Rai, where Turkish tanks opened a second front in their Syria operation at the weekend.
Held by DAESH since 2013, Jarablus was easily recaptured by the Free Syrian Army supported by Turkish tanks and aviation on the first day of Operation Euphrates Shield launched by Ankara on August 24 with the aim of clearing terrorist groups along its border with Syria.
“This is the first time since the operation began”.
Turkey would seek no other objective around Manbij other than the retreat of the YPG forces, Isik said.
Turkish army forces bombed the Kurdish town of Afrin in Aleppo province in northern Syria with heavy artillery on Thursday, causing casualties among civilians, activists and eyewitnesses reported.
Yet it remains unclear if the Syrian rebels backed by Turkey will proceed further south to take Al-Bab from IS jihadists and then Raqa itself, or to what extent the operation has USA support.
Still, Erdogan may be betting that Turkish participation will marginalize the effectiveness of Kurds in the region in the future, analysts say.
He vowed to press ahead with the military offensive against “not only Daesh (IS) but also other terror groups like PYD and YPG” until this goal is achieved.
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And the countries sharply disagree over Syria’s Kurdish militias, which Turkey sees as its main enemy in Syria, and the United States sees as its most effective ground partner against the Islamic State.
