Turkish army tanks and military personal are stationed in Karkamis on the Turkish-Syrian border in the southeastern Gaziantep province, Turkey, August 25, 2016. © Umit Bektas / Reuters
On December 15, Ibrahim Kalin, an adviser of the Turkish President, said that Turkey is looking to coordinate its moves in Syria with Russia and the U.S. in order to avoid any military confrontation.
“We support the fight against terrorists, so we want to coordinate our efforts … Our Armed Forces will be in close contact with Americans, Russians and other members of the coalition in Syria, in order to precisely avoid any confrontation,” Kalin said on the sideline of the Doha Forum, according to Vestnik Kavkaza.
Furthermore, the Turkish diplomat stressed that his country will not tolerate the presence of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) on its border with Syria. The PKK is designated by Ankara as a terrorist group.
“We can’t allow the presence of any terrorist group on our border, and we can’t allow northeastern Syria to become a stronghold of the PKK,” RT Arabic quoted Kalin as saying.
Earlier this week, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan revealed that the Turkish military will launch a large-scale military operation against US-backed forces in northeastern within a few days. The operation will supposedly target several towns on the Syrian-Turkish border, which are held by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). Turkey claims that the PKK is the core of the US-backed group.
In response to Erdogan’s threats, Mazloum Kobani, General Commander of the SDF vowed to “respond strongly” to any attack by Turkey on northeastern Syria. The commander also warned that any Turkish attack will hinder the ongoing operation against the remaining ISIS fighters in Hajin.
The U.S. had warned from any military action in northeastern Syria. However, it is yet to take any measure to prevent the upcoming Turkish attack.
