The President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, speaks at Chatham House in central London, Britain May 14, 2018. REUTERS/Henry Nicholls
In his first response to the reportedly deployment of the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) in Manbij, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the Damascus government is running a “psychological operation” in the northern city.
“Turkey’s goal is to teach YPG [the People’s Protection Units]/PKK [the Kurdistan Workers’ Party] terror group a lesson, and we’re determined to make it happen,” Erdogan told a number of reports on December 28, according to the Anadolu Agency.
“We are against the partitioning of Syria. Our goal is terrorist groups leaving there. If the [terrorist] groups leave, then there is no job left for us,” the Turkish president added.
Few hours ago, the YPG announced that its “forces have withdrawn” from Manbij due to Turkish threats. The Kurdish group called on the SAA to enter the strategic city and its surroundings and the army answered the call right way.
A high-level Turkish delegation, including Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, presidential aide Ibrahim Kalin, National Defense Minister Hulusi Akar and intelligence chief Hakan Fidan, will be in Moscow on December 29. The issue of Manbij will likely be the core of the Turkish-Russian meeting.
