Recep Tayyip Erdoğan made his comments during a speech to AK party members in Ankara on October 26. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images
Turkey will enter northeastern Syria and has already shared its plans with Russia and the U.S, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced on August 4.
“We entered Afrin, Jarabulus, al-Bab. Now we will enter the [region] east of the Euphrates. We shared this [plan] with Russia and the U.S. As long as harassment fire continues, we cannot remain silent,” the Daily Sabah quoted Erdogan as saying.
The Turkish President went on to said Ankara has been patient on the situation in northeastern Syria for some time, but that “patience has an end.”
A Kurdish-led force known as the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) is ruling Syria’s northeastern region with support from the U.S. Ankara views the force, which has close ties with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), as a threat to its national security.
Last month, Turkey and the U.S. initiated talks on a possible security zone in northeastern Syria. However, Ankara was deeply unsatisfied with U.S. proposals.
“New U.S. proposals on a Syria safe zone are not at all satisfactory for Turkey,” Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said during a press conference on July 24.
Turkey’s frustration with the U.S. blind commitment to the SDF became clear on July 26 when Erdogan warned that the Turkish military will launch an operation in northeastern Syria regardless of the results of the talks with Washington.
Erdogan’s new statement shows that Turkey is very serious about addressing northeastern Syria issue. This could push the U.S. and its Kurdish proxies to compromise, or lead to a dangerous military confrontation.
