Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says he has responded positively to a USA request for a joint operation against Islamic State’s self-declared capital in Syria, Hurriyet newspaper reported.
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Mr Erdogan reportedly said US President Barack Obama proposed the idea at the G20 summit in China.
“Turkey will have no problem with such action”, Erdogan said.
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.
Turkey has also turned its attention to Kurdish rebel groups in the region, reaffirming its stance that all armed forces fighting on the border are “terrorists”, including the US-backed Kurdish YPG militia.
Six Syrian Kurdish fighters were killed and a dozen were wounded as Turkish military artillery fired across the border Thursday into Syria, Kurdish officials and rights activists said.
Cavusoglu said it was clearly not possible for opposition groups to support the continued leadership of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Unfortunately, Turkey and its president Recep Tayyip Erdogan are apparently more concerned with eliminating the Kurds than the Islamic State.
TURKEY’s president revealed yesterday that the USA had proposed a “deep” invasion of Syria to capture the Islamic State (Isis) stronghold of Raqqa.
In return, Obama wants Turkey to participate in, if not lead, the offensive to retake Raqqa. “We will carry out the appropriate response. if these type of attacks are repeated”, the statement said. “We said, “Let our soldiers come together, whatever is necessary will be done”, the Turkish president said, adding that a specific Turkish role would depend on further talks.
Loaded with luggage and domestic items, the residents headed for the frontier and queued for customs inspection at the border gate outside the Turkish town of Karkamis, an AFP photographer said.
The rebels, backed by Turkish tanks and airstrikes, quickly captured the key border town of Jarabulus, and on Sunday seized the last stretch of the border controlled by Daesh, cutting the extremist organization off from the outside world.
The operation was launched on August 24 when Free Syrian Army forces backed by Turkey liberated Jarabulus from IS. ISIS well understands Turkey’s agenda and is using it to its advantage to recover from its recent losses.
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Discussing efforts by the PYD – the Syrian affiliate of the PKK terrorist organisation – to connect the territory it holds in Syria, Erdoğan said Turkey would not accept the establishment of a “terror corridor”.
