Turkey condemned on Sunday a decision by the U.S.-led coalition to build a 30,000-strong border security force in northern Syria, criticizing it as a “unilateral decision.”
Coalition Forces Spokesman, Colonel Ryan Dillon said the creation of the force is a part of efforts to shift focus to border security, as the offensive against ISIS is winding down.
About half of the force is set to be retrained SDF fighters, said Dillon.
“The coalition did not hold consultations with Turkey about the creation of [these] forces, and it is unknown what coalition members made this decision. Unilateral steps, which are presented as actions of the coalition, is a seriously wrong action that will be detrimental to the fight against ISIS,” Turkey’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Ankara is fiercely opposed to the SDF, which is dominated by the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) — considered by the Turkish government to be a “terrorist” group.
“Continued U.S. cooperation with the YPG [People’s Protection Units], which is contrary to its [the U.S.’s] own obligations, jeopardize our national security and territorial integrity of Syria, and that is unacceptable. We condemn the persistence of the United States in this erroneous approach, and once again remind them that Turkey is determined to eliminate any threats against it, and has all possibilities to do this,” the statement read.
Backed by the U.S.-led coalition’s air strikes, Special Forces’ advisers and weapons, the SDF has ousted ISIS from large territories of northeastern Syria.
With U.S.-led Coalition support, SDF’s Kurdish and Arab members now control territories bordering Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east and Syrian government forces to the west.