(AhlulBayt News Agency) - Turkey will never allow the formation of an “artificial state” in northern Syria, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim has said, referring to the Kurdish fighters whose advance Ankara is now aiming to stop.
Turkey and its allies opened a new line of attack in northern Syria on Saturday, as Turkish tanks rolled across the border and Syrian fighters swept in from the west to take villages held by Issisand check the advance of the US-backed Syrian Kurdish YPG.
Turkey launched its operation in Syria, called Euphrates Shield, on 24 August, driving out ISIS from the border town of Jarablus. Much of the focus since has been on the YPG militia, as Ankara fears its growing control of northern Syria.
“We will never allow the formation of an artificial state in the north of Syria,” Mr Yildirim said in a speech in the southeastern city of Diyarbakir, where he announced an investment programme to rebuild parts of the largely Kurdish region that have been destroyed by security operations.
“We are there with Euphrates Shield, we are there to protect our border, to provide for our citizens safety of life and property, and to ensure Syria's integrity.”
Turkey is fighting a three-decade-old Kurdish insurgency in the southeast and fears that the YPG's advances will embolden militants at home. Turkey considers the YPG a terrorist organisation and an extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).
While the United States and Europe also regard the PKK as a terrorist group, Washington sees the YPG as a separate entity and as its most effective partner in the fight against ISIS in Syria. That position has caused friction with Turkey, a Nato member and a partner in the fight against ISIS.
Meanwhile, YPG forces say they have already withdrawn to the east of the Euphrates River in line with demands by Ankara and Washington.
A spokesman for the YPG recently criticized Turkey, saying its claims of fighting the group west of the Euphrates River are a pretext to widen its occupation of the Syrian territory.
The Syrian government has also strongly denounced Turkey’s incursion as a violation of its sovereignty.
Analysts say Turkey is using the fight against Daesh as a cover for its real mission, which is purging Syrian border areas of Kurdish militants.
Ankara regards the YPG and PYD as allies of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has been fighting for an autonomous Kurdish region inside Turkey since the 1980s.
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