Turkey, which is battling a Kurdish insurgency at home, launched an incursion into northern Syria last month with the stated aims of clearing Islamic State from its border and preventing the Kurdish YPG militia expanding into new territory.
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Turkey would be ready to join any initiative proposed by the United States to capture an Islamic State stronghold in Syria, President Tayyip Erdogan said in remarks published on Wednesday, as Turkish-backed forces took more Syrian land from jihadists.
“We did so in Jarablus, and are still doing so”, the Turkish leader said, adding that a joint plan of action with the U.S. had been worked out past year on the sidelines of the last G20 summit, which was held in Antalya, Turkey.
“Obama wants to do something together especially on the issue of Raqqa”, Erdogan was quoted as saying.
Turkish forces and Turkish-backed Islamist militias are advancing on the town from the west, the Russian-backed Syrian army is within striking distance from the south and US-backed Kurdish forces are approaching from the north and east.
Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said Friday the Syria operation was aimed at securing Turkey’s southern border.
Ankara sees the opportunity for cooperation with the USA as a chance to kill two birds with one stone that will both hit Islamic State (IS formerly ISIS/ISIL) and Kurdish fighters, who they also consider terrorists.
The Turkish government has made it clear that its incursion into Syria is also meant to prevent Syrian Kurds from expanding the areas under their control.
The spokesperson of the US-led coalition against IS, John Dorrian, tweeted on Thursday that Turkey, the United States and Syrian opposition fighters were working “to come up with a game plan” for Raqa.
He told reporters: “Obama wants to do some things together concerning Raqqa in particular”.
“We have agreed with them about where each party will be, geographically, in such a way that they can conduct their operations against [Islamic State] and not run into each other”, U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said in a recent interview with CNN.
Erdogan also said Turkish and U.S. military officials could meet to discuss the issue, according to Turkish media.
Operation Euphrates Shield was launched on August 24 when Free Syrian Army forces backed by Turkish military liberated Jarablus from Daesh.
According to political analyst Alexander Mercouris, who spoke on Wednesday to Radio Sputnik’s Loud & Clear host Brian Becker, Turkey is attempting to create a safe zone in northeastern Syria to serve as a base for jihadi groups supported by Washington and Ankara.
Hundreds of civilians began returning to the border town of Jarabulus in northern Syria on Wednesday, two weeks after pro-Ankara fighters recaptured it from Islamic State (IS) jihadists.
But Turkey on Tuesday sustained its biggest loss of life in the operation to date, with three soldiers killed in an IS rocket attack on their tanks. Turkey has spent more than $10 billion on Syrian refugees.
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“If we take a step back, terror groups like Daesh, PKK, PYD or YPG will settle there”.
