Turkey says no need for further operation outside present offensive area
Members of Syrian rebel groups allied with Turkey are seen in the Turkish border town of Ceylanpinar, on their way to northern Syrian town of Ras al-Ayn, on Oct. 23, 2019. Turkish Defense Ministry said on Wednesday that there is no need for new operation outside the present operation area, as the United States has confirmed that the withdrawal of the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) has completed. (Xinhua)
An armed vehicle of Turkish Armed Forces is seen in the Turkish border town of Ceylanpinar, on its way to northern Syrian town of Ras al-Ayn, on Oct. 23, 2019. Turkish Defense Ministry said on Wednesday that there is no need for new operation outside the present operation area, as the United States has confirmed that the withdrawal of the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) has completed. (Xinhua)
Turkish Defense Ministry said on Wednesday that there is no need for new operation outside the present operation area, as the United States has confirmed the withdrawal of the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) has completed.
"At the end of the 120-hour period, the United States announced that withdrawal of PKK/YPG from the area has been completed," said the ministry in a statement.
"The Sochi agreement includes articles upholding Turkey's border security and withdrawal of YPG terrorist elements 30 km away from our border. At this stage, there is no further need to conduct a new operation outside the present operation area," said the ministry.
In a phone conversation with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on late Tuesday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo confirmed that the YPG had withdrawn from the area in northern Syria where Turkey has been conducting Operation Peace Spring.
US military officials have informed their Turkish counterparts about the pullout, Pompeo told Cavusoglu by phone.
However, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on late Tuesday that the United States has not fully kept its promises agreed in temporary cease-fire in northeastern Syria.
Members of Syrian rebel groups allied with Turkey are seen in the Turkish border town of Ceylanpinar, on their way to northern Syrian town of Ras al-Ayn, on Oct. 23, 2019. Turkish Defense Ministry said on Wednesday that there is no need for new operation outside the present operation area, as the United States has confirmed that the withdrawal of the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) has completed. (Xinhua)
Members of Syrian rebel groups allied with Turkey are seen in the Turkish border town of Ceylanpinar, on their way to northern Syrian town of Ras al-Ayn, on Oct. 23, 2019. Turkish Defense Ministry said on Wednesday that there is no need for new operation outside the present operation area, as the United States has confirmed that the withdrawal of the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) has completed. (Xinhua)
"The US has not fully kept its promises. We will take the necessary steps. If we make compromises, we would open the way for the terrorist organization," Erdogan told journalists on his plane en route from Sochi to Ankara, local broadcaster NTV reported.
Ankara sees the YPG as the Syrian offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which is outlawed for its armed struggle against Turkey over the past three decades. But the US troops fought the Islamic State (IS) militants in Syria, with the help of the YPG fighters.
Following the recent US decision to withdraw its troops from northern Syria, Turkish soldiers launched an incursion into Syria earlier in October in a bid to drive Kurdish fighters out of the area.
Under the US-Turkey deal reached on Oct. 17 on a five-day truce, Turkey agreed to halt its military operation for 120 hours which expired at 1900 GMT on Tuesday.
Turkey and Russia agreed on Tuesday in Sochi to give the YPG fighters another 150 hours to withdraw from the planned safe zone area.